Category Archives: Networked Media

“As We May Think”

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What interested me most about Vannevar Bush’s article “As We May Think”, was his speculations on where the camera will go in the future; what it will become.

As this article was written in 1945 it is fascinating to see how far along the camera has come in terms of his speculations. He imagined that we would have cameras the size of walnuts in/on our heads that would take full colour images that we could then project afterwards.

Ok, so we haven’t actually come that far yet, however people do walk around with Go Pros strapped to their foreheads. They may be a bit bigger than a walnut, but commercial cameras are gradually getting smaller and more practical (although easier to lose).

In this image I found accompanying an article about Bush, the camera is portrayed somewhat like a Go Pro, only smaller.

 

 

Notes On the Un-Lecture

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What I found most interesting during this week’s symposium was surprisingly not a key idea at all but a passing comment that has just stuck with me. Employees of Google (Googlers) get one day a week to speculate, think, do whatever they want to come up with new ideas. SO LOGICAL.Thinking about a workplace like Google is fascinating because the world’s brightest and most creative would be there and so giving them a day for themselves to come up with their own designs or speculations is going to be the best way for Google to advance.

This then took me to speculate what it would be like to work at Google. I have only heard good things.

The film The Internship portrays the Google headquarters as workplace heaven, with slides, segways, free food and coffee on all levels, even futuristic style capsule beds so employees can sleep at work.

This then also lead me to speculate on what it could be like to work at Google in the future. It can only really get better until the eventual demise of Google. I can’t imagine how it could possibly get any better.

What If…

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Another thing I took away from the un-lecture in week three, alongside the readings on design fiction, was the idea of “What if” questions speculating on the future. This excites me because really the possibilities are endless. When you place ‘what if’ in front of an idea you can really venture into new unseen spaces.

I found this video, which explores Design Fiction in the way of a microchip which people place on the back of their necks and are then able to connect with others and play a game in a virtual video game. I thought this was a really cool idea, especially when in the end they take it so far as to wonder what the consequences of these chips could be…

 

Preconceptions

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From this week’s un-lecture, I found interesting Adrian’s comment on how some of us will find that our strengths are challenged in this course, minus the “scaffolding” of VCE. I find this to be 100% true for myself.

I am good at studying and exams and essays, this is what I am used to, however I think that being forced to step out of my comfort zone is a good thing as it replicates experiences that we will have outside the education world.

At the moment I have been looking for a new job and this requires me doing some things that are uncomfortable such as answering difficult questions in interviews and proving my skills. This I find is a step outside of what I am used to.

I find that in high school, especially attending a private school, we are very sheltered and almost spoon-fed in a sense, and in contrast university is a very independent place. From the first lecture at university, I knew I was going to have to alter my preconceptions of how learning should be undertaken. I have found that this subject has forced me to do so once again.

Alarm Bells Ringing

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Yesterday in my cinema class, I decided to sit on the opposite side of the room to that which I usually do, just to change things up a bit this semester. Upon sitting on this side of the room and taking a look around, I noticed a few things that I had never noticed before. To be clear I have been in the same cinema class room since I started at RMIT at the beginning of last year and once a week have spent 1-2 hours in there.

I mentioned to my friend sitting next to me “I’ve never noticed that ALERT ALARM up on the wall” and she replied “oh really, I have!” I then began to wonder if they had these alarms in every room. My friend wasn’t sure of this either. After reading John Mason’s piece on ‘noticing’, I discovered that perhaps my friend’s memory of the alarm was a result of ordinary-noticing rather than of marking. It was me that reminded her that the alarm was there and plus she could see it, that is a blatant reminder.

I figured that the reason I noticed the alarm was because of my changed vantage point, but why then have I not noticed whether these alarms exist in other rooms at RMIT? Is it because I was feeling panicked that day and therefore I would be more likely to notice an alarm on the wall as it seems applicable to my emotions? Or is it just because it has never really seemed important to me to know whether there are alarms in every room?

I found reading about noticing rather trivial and confusing as it is such a banal activity that for the most part we don’t even know that we are doing it. I could attempt to notice more stimuli in a day but I can honestly say that I think I would forget to try! I will give noticing each time I walk through a doorway a go.. But can’t promise anything..

 

 

Essays V Blogs

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I am going to be honest and admit that when we were first told that this course was mostly assessed through blogs I was a little surprised and confused. We are so used to being told to sit down with a pen and paper and write an essay, that the idea of sharing our thoughts and new findings in such a public sphere seems really out there.

Upon reading Adrian Miles’ article about Blogs in Media Education, I have to one hundred per cent agree with him in that a process such as this seems much more applicable to the work force that we are one day aiming to step into.

By writing an essay- using a static formula that we all now know like the back of our hands, and simply handing it in to a teacher who is, let’s be honest, probably very sick of reading them, we can learn nowhere near as much as we can by using a blog. Being able to access the work of others and soak in their ideas can be unbelievably valuable and using blogs allows us to do this.

Blogging is also likely to be a crucial skill in years to come in which we are searching for employment. Already when applying for jobs in PR and marketing I have been asked how tech-savvy I am and whether I can create Facebook pages, Instagram and Twitter accounts and blogs. Not once have I been asked how good I am at writing essays.

Unless we are looking to become academics, blogging seems a much more practical skill to have than essay writing, and I think that most of us have written enough of essays for the formula to be stuck with us for life anyway.

A Short Speculation

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In Adrian Miles’ introduction to the Networked Media course, something that resonated with me was this idea of ‘speculation’. He asked us to speculate on the word ‘speculate’, something that at first left me dumbfounded. I am sure many can relate when I say that I understand a concept a lot better when it is put into a context with which I am familiar, and so I decided to relate this idea, somewhat abstractly, to yoga.

The word speculate to me infers delving into an artifact, wondering how it will evolve in the future, even how it has evolved thus far. It could almost relate to meditation in that it suggests deep thought and focus. In saying this I am already beginning to speculate on the word speculate!

When I look back through how far yoga has come, and how many different styles exist in the world today, I wonder if anyone would have speculated such dramatic changes. Whether it be due to technological advancements or people’s desires for things that are new and shiny, there is no denying that yoga has managed to delve into many realms that I am sure very few would have imagined. From Bikram yoga, practiced in a 40 degrees Celsius room, to Antigravity yoga which is practiced in silk hammocks suspended from the ceiling, the once mostly meditative practice has taken on a new meaning.

This then leads me to speculate on what could possibly come next, and due to wandering minds and inspiring ideas floating around our planet, I believe it could be something even more left of centre. Perhaps yoga practiced in a freezing room? Or in a room made of mattresses?

Who knows, we can only speculate.