So… I made a rather embarrassing error this afternoon, I got up at 7am and began working on some blog posts and readings that I needed to prepare for todays class, by midday I feel very prepared and confident I could participate and engage int he class (for once). Hopped in the car, found a park out the front of uni, came in checked my watch, it’s 1:30… Where is everyone? 1:40… 1:45 *checks timetable* WEDNESDAYS ARE AT 9:30AM DAN YOU DRIED UP IDIOT! so here I am like a simpleton just typing out this post in the vain attempt to use my blog productively. well at least it won’t happen again I guess.

Anyway, so I imagine the symposium would have been in relation to networks and hubs, I did in fact watch the video on The 6 degrees of separation and how 40 parcels went out from all around the world and went through 28 countries and 53 cities with 3 packages actually arriving at the target human out of 6.9 billion people. which I find insanely cool. Even furthermore intriguing is how the average ‘leg’s or ‘steps’ that the packages travelled was… guess… 6.

“As far back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a gangster…” – Henry Hill (played by Actor, Ray Liotta)

Well, as far back I as I can remember I’ve always had an obsession with crime and the allures of riches, I often cant quite put a finger on it exactly but I find the criminal way of life so damned interesting that I cant help but fantasise. I again sat down with my plate of Italian-American Meatballs today to watch my favourite comfort movie, Goodfellas,  Dir. By Martin Scorcese. What I love most about this picture in particular, out of all the crime films Marty has made, is the way he balances the glamour of the Italian American Mafia lifestyle with the horrific yet ever apparent violence. Sure these guys crack jokes and “bust each other’s chops” but when it came to money or pride, the inner animals come out. Within a split second these men wouldn’t hesitate to “take out” another of their crime “family” if it was a matter of money or respect. Scorcese brutally exposes the regrets and agony that people in these lifestyles endure and hence stains the romantic reputations that have been attached to gangster films in such classics as “The Godfather” and “Scarface.”

The readings were based on the work of network scientist Laszlo Barabasi. He gives vital information regarding loose ties, small world scale free networks, and the power law distribution. So basically, it is the science of networks in human lingo, and the laws (rules) described I think relate all the way from an individual hyper textual work, through to a network like Twitter and Facebook etc, and the Web in general. What I particularly found amazing about Barabasi’s somewhat baffling article, was the point on using Newton’s laws applied to day to day situations and circumstances. For example the way his ‘80/20’ rule a.k.a. “Murphy’s Law of Management” could be used to discern that “80 percent” of the worlds’ goods/services are used by only 20 percent of the poplutation, I think… Either way it was interesting to see something so concrete as the laws of physics being used to discern seemingly random and unsystematic events.

Today during the  (un)symposium, elliot meg bryan and kim engaged with the topic of hypertext narrative and the effects it had on society and avid readers over the turn of the century. I found it interesting that we all agreed on the same level. We all came to the conclusion that having more than one definite conclusion leads to a fractured ending, a lack of closure or a sense of disatisfaction. It reminded me of the early Jumpstart games which I was obsessed with growing up!

I’m not entirely certain if I like the concept of a book with no decisive conclusion. For me, that has always been the great thing about a novel, (especially any fantasy adventure novel), to get swept up in author’s realm, with events occurring as they are imagined in my own mind. Reading has always been one of my beloved past times. I’ve always enjoyed getting absorbed in a good book, in a “ludic” state as mentioned in “The End of Books Reading”. When I discover a sincerely gratifying book, I can’t stop reading because I simply must find out what happens in the end. Would I feel the same way if I could pick the conclusion myself?

Maybe I would be unsatisfied by the fact that I could never find out the ‘actual’ end. I guess I would like there to be one. Nevertheless, having multiple possible conclusions would mean that I would get more enjoyment out of reading a book over and over again, trying to see where all my potential options would take the narrative. It would definitely be fun at times. The idea of hypertext fiction is nonetheless intriguing. It is an entirely different way for a story to be voiced. There would be distinctive understandings and analysis of the events each time you read it, the story itself therefore has the potential for greater complexity.

I concur with the author of the reading that books will never become nonexistent, I feel like they will always absolutely have a home in society so long as stories themselves do. I also think that interactive narratives will become increasingly popular in the future. There is a lot of potential for hypertext to develop into all sorts of unfound technological territory, and I think that’s exciting news…

Yes I know this may seem trivially simple to some, however there are users who struggle to link out of their blog post to another webpage/blogpost. To assist in this teaching process I’ll be using screencaptures of me linking out to a page on Siberian Huskies.

1. First Up you will need to start a brand new blog post on your site.

2. Next up, from your new post, create a title, any title, and in the text box write the name/title of the page/post you will link to.

3. From here you will need to highlight the text you wish to have ‘hyperlinked’ and then click on the chain link icon as shown.

4. You will now be prompted to enter the URL of the page you are linking to, so simply input the URL and make an appropriate title then click “Add Link”

And viola, your hyperlinked words in your text are now… let’s say… “clickable” and will link out to your desired page/post.

So Lecture/Workshop 1 were held back-to-back on Monday afternoon, consisting of mostly an introduction of the course and of whats going on in the next 6 weeks.

Elliot, started by going over some basic principles of the internet, e.g. how it was established under our generation and hence why our “mums are always asking for your help with the computer.”

Another key concept that was mentioned which I need to get my head around is the quote that was written on the board

“Research is the combined practice of both knowledge consumption and production”

I guess it has to do with the Idea that whilst we consume a piece of “knowledge” we are also actively interpreting under certain contexts, discourses and opinions, hence we are “producing” a somewhat unique form of research. – awkwardly phrased, yet still the way I have read the message.