HTML Woes

August 20, 2014August 26, 2014Nathan

Reading Amy’s last minute post on the HTML code exam gave me some hope. I sympathize. You’re not alone, and although I wasn’t as code-savvy a year 7 as you, I too didn’t feel worried about this exam.

The inner workings of computer systems have always been a mystery to me and i assumed that they would remain just that. Trying to picture how I could make things appear on a screen by telling a machine what to do and even imagining how those machines worked in the first place made my head hurt. But if I ignore my overwhelming technological ineptitude and just focus on the code (forgetting about those super complex machines that read the code) it doesn’t seem too scary.

Looking back now I feel a small glow of pride knowing that I wrote a website, albeit a very basic and raw one. If I could remember what it felt like the first time I read a book it would probably have feel like this.

Project Xanadu

August 14, 2014August 19, 2014Nathan

The Internet has come a long way since the dial up days of AOL. Wifi and 3G are commonplace now and hardlines are used now only for a greater bandwidth. We can now download an upload almost anywhere in the world from our pockets.

This is the result of the Internet and the World Wide Web, and although now the notion of this kind of interconnectivity is commonplace, 30 years ago it seemed a space-age prospect. When Ted Nelson was sharing his thoughts on hypertext culture and ‘Project Xanadu’ (essentially a prototype Internet), he was also confessing his skepticism that humanity would even survive to see his predictions realized.

Hypertext is “non-sequential writing – text that branches and allows choices to the reader, best read at an interactive screen” (Nelson). Nelson highlighted this mode of information sharing as the way of the future. He outlined a world in which offices, businesses, and even homes may be paper-less, instead they would be filled with compters.

Nelson praised computers as instruments to simplify human life (simplification was something that he pushed in many different cases pertaining to computers) and the way to do this was to connect them, making information transfer almost seamless. This vision was realised, in a way, through the Internet.

References: Nelson, Theodor Holm. Literary Machines 91.1: The Report On, and Of, Project Xanadu Concerning Word Processing, Electronic Publishing, Hypertext, Thinkertoys, Tomorrow’s Intellectual Revolution, And Certain Other Topics Including Knowledge, Education and Freedom. Sausalito: Mindful Press, 1992. Print.

Symposium #4 Notes

August 12, 2014August 26, 2014Nathan

How can you judge the validity of things on the Internet?

There are particular conventions and methods to determine validity; news websites in particular have this. They have a look and feel about them that makes them all similar and gives them almost a ‘stamp of approval’

Be wary. ‘The Onion’ looks and feels like a real news site but is a parody site.
The number of people saying something (in particular news) the higher the chance its is going to be true.
E.g. Robin Williams’ death: when I first heard I immediately turn to twitter to check the validity of the statement. When almost everyone is tweeting about it and linking various articles from various news sources, seems legit

Sometimes it’s very difficult to determine if someone/thing is legitimate online.

If you don’t know the topic area of a blog you are reading about, you need to research the area to prove the veracity of the blogger.

Wikipedia is often branded ad unreliable as it can be altered. However often times it is more accurate than the Encyclopedia Britannica.

What are the limitations of network literacy? How does it differ to print literacy?:

What limitations do both literacies share?
What strengths help compensate for each other?
Can they work together?
Are they destined to be rivals?

Economic model that under rides it.

Things like print & network literacy did not exist before we inhabited them; they only exist because we decide to use them.

There are a multitude of literacies that we have – How to read a person’s face, voice, gestures, body language, how to read a street signs, how to tell when it’s safe to cross a street. These are all literacies we have.

Third party services in network literate space disempower us.

We do not know the binary code to change the colour of our desktop background; a programmer has written a long and complicated code that allows us to easily change it. In this sense we are network illiterate.

However in print we understand thoroughly the intricacies of the medium.

If we so chose, we could write a book, collect the pages, print them, bind them, etc.

Everything Bad Is Good For You

August 9, 2014August 12, 2014Nathan

Steven Johnson is an American popular science author and media theorist. In his book “Everything Bad Is Good For You” (2005), he presents an interesting argument defending modern pop culture, in particular: video games and television.

He argues that, although sometimes violent and sexual, video games stimulate reward centers of the brain and invite exploration and problem solving. Television is a “brilliant medium”, as it exposes how adept a person is in understanding narratives and interpersonal connections (and their AQ: Autism Quotient – higher emotional intelligence=lower AQ). Even reality television shows have merits in the way they display the complexity of social networking in human relations.

Johnson imagines a world where digital media came first and books were invented afterwards. Kids are now starting to read these new ‘books’, and that teachers and parents are worried:

“But perhaps the most dangerous property of these books is the fact that they follow a fixed linear path. You can’t control their narratives in any fashion –– you simply sit back and have the story dictated to you. For those of us raised on interactive narratives, this property may seem astonishing. Why would anyone want to embark on an adventure utterly choreographed by another person? But today’s generation embarks on such adventures millions of times a day. This risks instilling a general passivity in our children, making them feel as though they’re powerless to change their circumstances. Reading is not an active, participatory process; it’s a submissive one. The book readers of the younger generation are learning to ‘follow the plot’ instead of learning to lead.”

Perhaps screen addiction is not as toxic as some would have you believe… Food for thought.

“Screenagers”

August 8, 2014August 28, 2014Nathan

In the 1990’s Douglas Rushkoff, an American media theorist and writer, coined the phrase “screenagers” to describe the generation growing up immersed in digital media. This generation, for the first time, grew up thinking images on screens were not simply still pictures, but rather content that could be manipulated.

These ‘screenagers’ are digital natives, they navigate the digital forms innately unlike older generations who could be seen as digital immigrants.

I decided to test this. We grew up with the Internet and computers and from mid way through primary school I can remember computers being omnipresent. However I can also remember a time without Internet (although we still had computers – I spent so much free time on that PC Pinball game). When I told my sister about my Internet-less childhood she couldn’t believe me. Although she is only 6 years younger, the technology gap is huge.

Network Literacy

August 6, 2014August 11, 2014Nathan

To be literate, in the sense of being able to navigate a form of information exchange, is to to have knowledge and understanding of that form deeply embedded from years of teaching. Print mediums were commonly accepted as the key ‘forms’ of information translation, with books, journals and essays being some of its tools. However with the rise of the internet and the establishment of an online framework for information sharing, print literacy is quickly being overtaken by ‘network literacy’.

Knowledge is now being expressed and distributed in online forms such as online articles, social media, videos and blogs. Network literacy is being able to navigate the internet and these forms, participate with peers online, and have an understanding of the logics and protocols of these online networks.

The online content is being shared across the Internet and being woven together, creating an interconnected form of knowledge communication between internet services. This means that ‘the parts remain as parts at all times’. It also means that the distinction between consumer and creator is becoming blurred as it is easier to contribute content as well as access it.

XML: A way to standardize the publication so that the information can be shared
RSS: A syndication system based on XML that allows easy exchange of content between different services
Tag: A keyword that is attached to content in order to make it easier to search for

Symposium #3 Notes

August 5, 2014Nathan

1. How much freedom do we have when writing critically of others or others’ work before we become liable for defamation or copyright infringement?

Blogs are essentially on copyright lockdown
Defamation comes in relation to reputation; if your accusations harm another’s professional reputation then you will be open to defamation charges. Personalizing (naming) in a blog is dangerous
Separating opinion from writing un-bias in your blog can help to avoid defamation charges
In some defamation cases, truth as a defense is acceptable, however in certain cases it is not a sufficient defense
It is not a criminal matter until it is brought to a court; copyright and defamation are civil offences, so unless you’re caught you cannot be charged
Imbedded YouTube videos in your blog have implied liability with the host site, i.e. YouTube hold liability for that content if it breaches copyright
- YouTube have algorithms that run similarity reports to check if there are any copyright violations, and videos are automatically taken down – YouTube is kind of safe in this sense
It’s up to the original creator and/or copyright holder to police the breaches in that copyright
- E.g. if a band’s song lyrics are used in a video, or a cover of the song, etc. it is up to the musicians to police that and press copyright charges
If you slander someone based upon gender, race, religion, sex, etc. it is illegal; there is no freedom of speech protection in Australia (America is the only country that has enshrined freedom of speech as a protection)
Intent doesn’t matter; if it is offensive to someone then your intent doesn’t matter, it is still offense. The same applies to copyright, whether or not you intended to sexist, racist, etc. if someone interprets that as such, then it is.
Opinion v. Criticism; criticism comes from a learned perspective. Opinion has no such backing (a mechanic critiquing a car vs. an everyday person)
If someone comments on a blog you host and that comment has links to illegal content, you are responsible as the host for that content

2. Copyright protects published content, however this protection does not extend to the ideas or concepts that this content was based on. At what point does content or “fact” become an idea? And vice versa?

You can patent a way to create a certain way, combining various elements to create something like a drug or medicine
E.g. Microsoft has trademarked the word ‘Windows’ however windows companies don’t have to pay Microsoft when they use the word in their companies because it’s a different context

Youth Blog Culture

August 3, 2014August 5, 2014Nathan

Blogs are an amazing way to collate and present ideas, findings, discussions, opinions, artistic works and many other forms of content. The blog has become a tool for both personal and professional content sharing and its flexibility as a forum has made the blog invaluable to employers and educators alike. However the blog has really taken off within youth culture.

It seems that more young people are taking up blogs as a hobby, almost as a substitute journal or diary, in which they can post their feelings, opinions and life events (anonymously if they so choose). Wheres blogs are only used by older generations if they work in a media orientated profession, or have interest and activity within media, the percentage of social and leisure blogs among youth is much higher. High school to university aged students are using blogs to share among their social circles.

Back to the diversity of blogs. Many older bloggers, already established in their media profession, operate multiple blogs: one for professional use and one for social use. For example, a friend of mine works as a advertising designer and as part of her job she is required to keep up a blog with all of her work and projects for prospective clients to view; almost like a portfolio. She also has her own personal blog where she can re-post other content she found interesting and publish her own content and opinions independent from her advertising firm.

Nathan Santamaria

Networked Media