Topic 12: Open Source/Digital Civil Liberty

Lecture: Open Source/Digital Civil Liberty
in the lecture some of the cases that the Electronic Frontier Foundation are currently defending were spoken about...NSA/AT&T alleged spying case, where the government allegedly wiretapped the internet communications going through San Francisco.
Creative Commons -
The creative commons is an alternative way to license content to put out onto the internet to share with other people. The creative commons scheme challenges regular copyright, by allowing the creator to specific the conditions of use of their work. This frees up content for remixing and reuse.
Free and open source software:
Source code- Instruction written in programming languages that tell a computer to do certain things.
software used to be free, these days it is locked so that only a few can see and change the source code.
Free software renamed: Open source software.
freedom 0: freedom to run any software, any source
freedom 1: freedom to study software and adapt it to yr needs
freedom 2: freedom to redistribute copies, to help neighbor
freedom 3: the freedom to make improvements to the company and release improvements to the community so everyone benefits.
The internet is open source.

Tutorial: No Task this week

Reading: Sarai Guide to free software

Topic 11: Is downloading movie/music wrong?

Lecture: Is downloading movie/music wrong?
Had a discussion on whether its wrong to download music and movies
Watched Steal this film 2-
Steal this film 2 talks about the technological and enforcement end of the copyright wars, and on the way that using the internet makes you a copier, and how copying puts you in legal jeopardy.
Quote from Mark Getty (Getty Images)
"Intellectual property is the oil of the 21st century" Declared war on the copy write laws
New media adapts itself to the suppression of information
sharing is at the heart of communication, the human urge to communicate is so strong we're pushed the tools available to us to the limit then gone beyond that.
Joseph Licklider (1972) came up with the concept of networking computers.
Arpanet- networking computers back in the past
Packet switch networks, todays computer networks.
In fighting file sharing the industry is fighting the fundamental structure of the internet
The league of noble peers is everyone, the general public

Tutorial: There was no tutorial task today

Reading: Article on Napster
When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide Blog by Demonbaby, Wednesday October 24th 2007.
Is a blog thats a commentary on the music industry - piracy, distribution, morality. Demonbaby was prompted to write the blog when the international police and anti-piracy groups shut down the world torrent site OINK was shut down. He speaks about the amount of money big record companies hes worked for throw around and how its an industry of excess. In the past mp3 file sharing was new and only due to having a cd collection of your own could u have digital music. He speaks of not conforming to digital file sharing and clinging to the old days of buying cds, then it all shift and has completely immersed himself in digital music, almost never buying cds anymore.

Topic 10: PK Dick- Living in the Future

Screening: Bladerunner (1982)
In a cyberpunk vision of the future, man has developed the technology to create replicants, human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a cop who specializes in terminating replicants. Originally in retirement, he is forced to re-enter the force when six replicants escape from an offworld colony to Earth.

Tutorial: Essay outline
Essay Draft
The shift in the public sphere, influenced by new communication technologies today

Intro
-the shift in the public sphere, influenced by new communication technologies, specifically MySpace
-How the public sphere and bourgeois public sphere was theorized by Jurgen Habermas
-the shift in the public sphere in today’s society due to new communication technologies and the World Wide Web and the internet.
-the social effect this shift has had on society’s communication
P1
-discuss Habermas and his theory about the public sphere and how he studies the social practices and the forms of sociability within the middle class.
- A sociologist and social philosopher Habermas was known to be a political animal and fighter for democracy (Gestrich 1996: 414-415).
-discuss the bourgeois public sphere due to the contemporary corruption of the public sphere in the late 1980’s (Gestrich 1996: 420).
-how the public sphere was shifting due to the media revolution of the early modern period and the new spaces of social communication, and the progression it has made to today
P2
-how the public sphere has shifted in today’s society
- According to Habermas, the public sphere has degenerated in a systematic way which has lead to a false space of manipulated publicity (Sikka 2006: 89-99).
-the new communication technologies such as the world wide web, that influence the public sphere today, including websites such as MySpace and face book
-Souls (2008) discusses how Habermas defined the public sphere as a virtual or imaginary community which does not necessarily exist in any identifiable space.
-the multiple public spheres that exist due to the internet having
- New information and communication technologies such as the World Wide Web may contribute to the fragmentation of civil society (Downey & Fenton 2003: 190).
-Particularly with teenagers
-Willoughby (2008) particularly discusses Adolescents who use technology at a high level also might have weaker friendships and lower well-being than those who use technology moderately, given that more time spent on the computer could be a result of less time spent with friend.

Reading:Extract- Blade Runner Book

human (a) 1/ of or relating to people or humankind
2/ having the nature, qualities or characteristics of people or humankind
3/ of or relating to humankind as distinct from God or gods, animals or machines.
(n) a human being
Cassell's Concise Dictionary (1997)

Topic 9: Virtual Philosophy and CyberPunk

Lecture: Virtual Philosophy and CyberPunk
Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre based in the possibilities inherent in computers, genetic, body modification and corporate developments in the near future. The work comes froma an amalgamation of the two words
Cybernetics: The study of communication, command and control in living organisms, machines and organizations.
Greek kybernetes meaning steers man or pilot, the concept developed during and after WWII to indicate the use of systematic approach to complex issues such as managing a large number of computers at distributed sights or understanding the operations of the brain.
Punk: A style of fast, loud, short rock music with an anarchist political philosophy and a DIY, anti-expert 'seize the day' approach to life.
Represented in the music of bands such as sex pistols, the Clash and Black Assassins.

Cyberpunk was developed as a reaction against the over blown and predominantly safe stories of "space Opera" such as star wars.
Some themes within Cyberpunk are Technology and mythology, Utopia and Distopia, Cities as machines, technological change and modernism to post modernism.

Tutorial task 8 (part 2): Internet field trip, 3D worlds and socializing on the internet.
Msn vs. Habbo hotel
Habbo hotel is a more visually interactive type of chat, where you are able to perform tasks and interact with other habbo’s by dancing, playing games, winning prizes and making money; you are also able to buy things for your hotel room. Where as msn is mainly text based with other small applications, like icons and emotions, though file sharing, such as pictures are able to be preformed on msn. With msn you only add and accept the people you want on your own list to chat to, so it is more private, in habbo hotel, you are still able to chose who you chat with though its slightly less private as it is a public chat space.
Required Reading: Plato's Cave and Burning Chrome
Burning Chrome written by William Gibson, Fictional Writer, key concepts are cyberspace and virtual reality, his work is of sci-fi genre.

Topic 8: Are Computer Games a Waste of Time?

Lecture: Are Computer games a waste of time?

In the lecture we discussed computer games and the research that has been done on them and the approach taken to studying them. In the lecture discussion topics where media effects and games, the persistence of effect, games and utopia. Video games as a new form of cultural practice thinking of them in the same way we now think about old media, newspapers, radio, TV and films. Narratology vs. Ludology, ‘Fun doesn’t always represent realism’.

Tutorial: Advanced Uses of Microsoft word

The First Couple of Tasks were easy and I already know how to do them as they are an everyday use application in word, such as opening a document, typing, saving, making text bold italic and underlined and making bullet points, also header Footers and double spacing. I did do the track changes task, which I could see as useful though I’m not sure how often I would remember to use it. I also did the mail merger task which I could see as useful if I was to be in a job doing a lot of mailing out, as I want to be in marketing this may be something I need to know for work experience maybe.

Required reading: Trigger Happy

Trigger Happy discusses how certain aspects of reality are represented in video games and are modeled in a realistic way where as other aspects are deliberately skewed and certain effects are created more characteristically specifically for the requirements of the specific game. This is done for the players as it is believed that true to life situation within a game specifically in weapons etc can become mundane to the player as it is too real world and people find this boring. Though wanting unrealistic more imaginative play, it’s also pointed out that gamers do want the games system to remain consistent and internally coherent. Incoherence is one thing that can wreck game play, there are three ways incoherence can affect the game, incoherence of casualty: if a rocket launcher can blow up the enemy but does not work when fired at wooden door. Incoherence of function: such as ‘single use function, a magic book that only works in one location. And incoherence of space or spatial management: not being able to simply drop an object on the ground but having to place in a chest, which u can then access 3 stories higher and retrieve the same object.

Topic 7: Cronenberg- Cinema and Technology

Lecture: Screening eXistenZ
We Watched eXistenZ (1999) directed by David Cronenberg. This movie explores the world of games and how excessive play can warp reality. I found the movie interesting in the approach to gaming and the use of the portal which connected the human body directly into the gaming world. Though it did get confusing at the end, which showed how ones sense of reality can get warped and even deluded by excessive play.

Tutorial: There was no tutorial this week.

Reading: The Military-Entertainment Complex: A New Facet of Information Warfare
Written by Stephen Stockwell and Adam Muir begins by discussing history of war and the direct relation to propaganda used within Hollywood and media to misinform people about the war and the military and how integrated the military is in the entertainment industry. It also talks about gaming and the use of military and war within games, starting from a simple board game then progressing into full blown simulations like flight simulations and shooting ranges for military training purposes. It is discussed that the military also employ directors and screenwriters to write terrorist scenarios for training the military to prepare them as many different situations as possible. Another point brought up is another development in the media sphere was the use of reality TV and the way it was used to merely entertain the general public then in light of war was changed again but in a more war oriented context to keep the general public interested in the militaries operations. I also though the point that the exercise of free speech comes at a cost for those who take alternative viewpoints in times of war was very valid, I also think it is more so true when relating Americas military to war, I feel its not as true in Australia.