Category Archives: Life

Making Something of it All

Posted on by under Life, Networked Media

What’s more manly than dead dears? Photo: Itenney1225

Here’s an interesting look at how a blog grows and develops into something that becomes a full time job (A six figure yearly income job too). The Art of Manliness is a blog I have been reading for some time now, and while I started reading it after it had already come to power, I have seen it grow substantially even in that time. I have seen what was a successful Husband and Wife team blog go to being something with regular contributors from different websites, as well as having people contribute in other ways, such as creating the videos for the blog, etc.

I think what Adrian has been saying the whole time about blogging and what he said in the first symposium about turning a passion into a career comes through in a successful blog like this. If you’re writing good stuff then other people will read it. Especially if it’s good stuff that other people aren’t writing. If there’s something you know a lot about and something that you have researched and looked into enough to be able to provide a positive contribution to the topic, then go for it.

Here’s a couple of interviews with the blog’s creator, Brett McKay:

The Rise to the Top

Grind and Thrive

This kind of thing is great for writers and those who blog to look at. It teaches you important characteristics of today’s online market internet uses, as well as what it takes to turn something into something.

The NBN Lives On, For Now

Posted on by under Life, Networked Media

Thanks to Jake Baldwin for this blog post, from Paul Budde, who I linked to in an earlier post about the NBN. I received an email this morning from the creators of the petition to save the FTTP NBN from the coalition, indicating that Malcolm Turnbull had officially released the planned investigation and review of the current NBN. What Budde says in his blog is 100% correct. The fact that the coalition are willing to perform a review that is “apolitical” and “technologically agnostic” is promising, no matter how honest these claims are.

We can only hope that the Liberal Government will enlist the helps of the appropriate experts around the world that are able to contribute to this issue and offer advice and first hand experience to both the government, the Australian people and NBN Co. Hopefully following the analysis, a more effective and efficient rollout of a similar network (One that’s FTTP) will be agreed upon and Australia will receive the infrastructure boost it deserves.

This is exactly what we need to keep up with the ever growing network and cloud computing. There’s no point storing everything in the cloud without fast internet speeds. Imagine backing up terabytes of data from back-up drives to the cloud or servers in the network with our current internet speeds? Don’t laugh, people do it, all the time. It takes a lot of time and resources. The NBN gives us a chance to improve our business operations as well as personal activities.

0.6 The Long Tail and Feeding the Fire

Posted on by under Life, Networked Media

 

Not everyone wants a lifesize Gandalf statue, but it’s accessible to those who want it. Photo: Ewan Roberts

Of all the points raised in the Unsymposium 0.6, I feel the discussion surrounding the 80/20 rule, the long tail and niche markets to be the most relevant, and definitely something I can relate to. One of the great bonuses of having all of the small links in the network is the incredible wealth and depth of information that is available, something that Adrian has pointed out multiple times throughout the course, as well as reiterating in the Unsymposium.

An example of this is very prevalent in the film world. I read articles all the time from major newspapers, Time magazine, etc, that are catering for the general public in the best way they can. They’re a mass produced publication that has to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. For someone interested in upcoming films and productions, this can give you a brief sort of overview from someone outside the industry. As Adrian said, it’s enough to keep the people happy. But sometimes you get people who are incredibly interested in a single subject. For example, I am a Middle-Earth lover (in case you haven’t read any of my other posts that Middle Earth continually infiltrates). I can read major headlines in the paper and magazines talking about the upcoming Hobbit films (eg, major news such as the press release announcing the Hobbit as a trilogy over two films), but I can also access a plethora of blogs and websites, run by people like me and read by people like me, who absolutely love all things Middle Earth. Not even all of Middle-Earth, there are some websites dedicated purely to maintaining a public and accessible update on the next film of the Hobbit trilogy (Desolation of Smaug).

With access to such blogs I can read inside information, from people who have friends, family and relatives working on the project. I can read any sort of official news or updates (even some of this doesn’t make it into the mass produced news). I can read exclusive interviews with the cast and crew of the production. I can view photos (both behind the scenes and promotional), I can receive updates on when NZ Post is releasing the next series of New Zealand stamps commemorating the films release. I think you get the picture.

TOR.net (the one ring .net) is a perfect example of this. A site dedicated to Middle Earth. Thanks to the internet, I have access to this. Something myself and others are interested in, that normally we would have to have incredible connections to view. The kind of information the site contains used to be accessible to the people in the movie industry or involved in the production. Not anymore. Thanks to the long tail. So let’s support the little guys and the independent websites and blogs out there . The independent publications, the ones that matter for people like me, with unique tastes and interests.

Stories

Posted on by under Life

3rd from the left.

Over the weekend I spent time recording an interview of sorts with my Grandfather. It was more or less just a conversation, I guess, in which he explained his childhood in Nazi Germany and his experiences from the Second World War. While it is interesting enough in its own right, what really intrigued me was the amount of information that I recorded that nobody from my family had heard before.

For me, it really put into perspective how lucky my Grandfather is to be alive and in one piece, and to have had a relatively happy and fortunate life in Australia, if you could call it that. He’s certainly been through a lot. It’s obvious where the traits in his character come from. Resilience, determination, loyalty, care and love. I guess those kinds of experiences shape your character, for better or worse. In this case, it’s a positive shaping.

I did not realise the extremity of the situation that he was in. I had heard many stories before, and read accounts and reflections penned by his hand. But listening to the words straight out of his mouth made it sound so much more horrific and personal.

It is astonishing how clear his memory and recollection of these events is. For someone who is in his 80’s he’s exceptionally sharp. Again, I guess when the events in your life are so powerful, it imbeds vivid images in your mind. Staying active too, helps.

To make top off the afternoon session of recording, he received a phone call from a German friend. A fitting end, I guess, to a day of story telling, and reflection of the past.

As of late, the history of my family and their past has become something that I value highly. I guess as people age it becomes more of a pressing issue, to find some way to preserve the great stories and tales and maintain memory and record that in a way immortalises the story. It is best not to forget some things, like where you come from. What shaped you. What made you It helps you understand someone, and makes it simple to feel empathetic towards them.

I think learning a little about others beginnings is something that helps you put your own life in perspective, whether you realise how much easier you have it, how much harder they had it, how much good someone has done, how great their character is. Perhaps there would be less conflict in the world if everyone understood and respected where everybody else comes from, and what their story is.

 

National Networks and Nodes

Posted on by under Life, Networked Media

The future is bright and beautiful. Photo: Dan Tentler

Networked media (What is Networked Media?) must tie in to all this stuff about National Network schemes and Australia’s NBN right? The viability of the network is dependent on society’s access to the network. To obtain the full benefits of interactive media, online content and subscription services, high level internet access is important. For me, with the recent election, one of the most important issues was the NBN. With such a tremendous focus from the IT industry and Media industry on cloud computing and interactive media, to remain competitive with the world leaders in business, health, medicine and education, we need infrastructure that is going to support the growing demands of the cloud. We now run into a number of problems with our new Liberal Government. They said they were all about infrastructure upgrades, yet failed to recognise the importance of the NBN. While politicians like Malcolm Turnbull like to think the NBN was an important election issue, in reality both campaigns failed to spend enough time on the issue. The Coalition obviously made a smart move in not bringing it up too much, because they knew that their NBN was inferior.

While I am not going to jump on board and say that Labor’s NBN plan is perfect (There are certainly some issues that need addressing), I am willing to say that it has the best intentions in mind for the future of Australian telecommunications. Maybe Tony Abbot and co. lacked a good understanding of design and design fiction? Because their version of the NBN certainly does not take into account the ever-growing demands of internet based technologies.

I think the issue of cost should be disregarded for the time being. There is plenty of competition over the fact that Labor’s NBN was expensive and the Coalition’s was cheap. But I think there’s plenty of evidence from economics and IT experts to suggest that the cost of the ALP’s NBN would be paid off in full over time, with excessive profit. Blogger Steve J presents some very valid evidence and arguments about this issue. So let’s put that aside for now.

What’s the go?

For those have no idea what’s going on so far I’ll give you a brief summary. to put it simply, the ALP’s NBN was a Fibre-to-the-premise network (FTTP), where fibre optic cabling would be rolled out to 93% of homes in Australia. This would give us a fibre network with a top speed capacity (in appropriate time) of up to 1Gb/ps, as countries such as South Korea have proved. Currently, the top speed available to users with access to the NBN in Australia is 10oMb/ps. In Tasmania, 44% of the population with NBN access pay for this top tier access. In the rest of Australia, 31%.

Contrary to Turnbull’s assertion of “nobody needs more than 25Mbps”, the real income figures of NBN Co released on 19-April, show that 31% of consumers are already paying for 100Mbps.

There is obviously a demand for it in Australia. In comparison, the Coalition NBN is a Fibre-to-the-node network (FTTN), which works on a skeleton of fibre optic cabling, with connections between homes and the “nodes” relying on our decaying and aging copper wire installations. Top speed and potential is always going to be 100Mb/ps, the maximum data rate achievable through the old wires. There’s no room for improvement. Bottlenecks will appear and make the new network installation almost useless.

Here’s a petition on change.org, which has attracted huge interest in only two weeks from Australians. It clearly presents all the points of contention regarding the NBN and makes the Liberal NBN seem effectively useless. Once you’ve had a gander over there, check out what Malcolm Turnbull had to say about it. It’s clear that the Liberal’s don’t really have a lot up their sleeves when it comes to defending their network scheme.

Last Saturday there was a general election at which the NBN was one of the most prominent issues. The Coalition’s NBN Policy – which can be read here  had been published in April – five months ahead of the election. The Coalition won the election.

Not content with having people pick apart and obliterate his NBN, Mr Turnbull has obviously decided the best response to ignore the argument and downplay it. Clearly if the Liberal’s won the election everybody wants their NBN, because it was such a big issue that was debated and discussed in comparison to Asylum seekers, the carbon tax, etc. Go ahead and have a read of the Coalition’s NBN policy that is linked to in the quote from Turnbull. The only issue that it makes you think about is money. And we’ve concluded that isn’t the key issue.

One thing that has struck me throughout this debate is that the Coalition believe there is sound evidence from other countries such as the UK, US and NZ to exhibit resounding success for a FTTN network. Sure there has been successes from this kind of network, of course there will be an increase in speeds. But the big issue here is that most of these countries are already moving to a FTTP solution. It’s obvious that a FFTN network is redundant in the grand scheme of things. Why would we spend billions upgrading our infrastructure to something that is not even at all competitive with world leaders, when we could upgrade to a very feasible, more expensive network that is cutting edge technology and potential?

Time and money are against the ALP NBN, but sometimes rushing things isn’t the best option. If we take a big step to FTTP now, we will eliminate the need for another change of infrastructure 10 years down the track. That’s not only saving more time in the long run, but money. Two big infrastructure projects will always cost more than a giant one. The fact that the ALP NBN will actually bring huge profits in the end should negate all issues of cost. Steve J makes some excellent findings and arguments for the ALP NBN in this article: The Real Deal on the Coalition NBN: same price, worse outcomes.

So while you wrap your head around that one, I’ll give you something simple, interactive and graphically based that might send the message more simply. How Fast is the NBN? That site provides real time examples of download times using both the ALP and Coalitions desirable speeds.

 For more NBN information try these sites:

Petition against Coalition NBN

 Steve Jenkins on the NBN

NBN Myths

Paul Budde

Malcolm Turnbull response to their NBN’s opposition

Coalition NBN policy

An article on South Korea’s world leading Telecomms network (Also Paul Budde)

 

 

 

 

Why Can’t We Just Have Both?

Posted on by under Entertainment, Life, Networked Media

I gave this a little thought awhile back. Jake makes some good points, and offers a different perspective. One that I agree with completely. Subscription and cloud based services offer us something extraordinary; that is the ability to literally carry everything from the world around us in our pockets. Well, not exactly, it’s all up in the cloud (That’s also known as Council Bluffs in Iowa, USA). But still, we have access to it all in our pockets. And that’s what we need, to increase productivity, efficiency and accessibility. The potential wealth of knowledge and data available to us as beings of this earth is sensational. It’s the kind of thing that was unfathomable to most, but George Orwell, 50 years ago. And it’s great.

As Chris Anderson notes in “The Long Tail”, this accessibility also provides us access to the entire network of knowledge. It’s thanks to this huge network and the interconnectivity it yields that we have access to so many great things. I’m definitely an advocate of this. I love music. I can’t afford to pay huge dollars to go see an unknown band to satisfy my ever increasing hunger for good music. I can subscribe to Spotify though. Recommended artists. Perfect. Only problem is, sometimes I feel I get a little swamped by people like Amazon, Spotify, Ebay and their other friends. Sometimes they try and do a little more than suggest, they almost preach. They know so much about me, yet why do they still offer me the latest tracks from some pretentious hipster black metal band I clearly have no interest in? I think sometimes the only problem with these services is the network is so complex and interrelated, that sometimes things that seem relatable to you, don’t actually relate to you. There’s plenty of people out there who like The Rolling Stones and the Beatles.But there’s some who are Beatles purists and won’t touch the Rolling Stones and their “edgy” rip off of the Beatles. That’s where the computer loses. Some things can’t be predicted. While the network can help computers relate to us, it also reminds us that computers are not people.

Alois also raises valid contentions in this response. The digital and cloud technologies are less resource heavy then physical belongings, they’re simpler to store. That’s why they’re great. And I guess, for people like Alois, who only use things once, it is an obvious choice as to which kind of possession is more suitable. This is why the possibilities of technology are so exciting. For some people though, like myself, the experience that is related to the physical mediums is to rich to give up. Is it still wasteful to have a tangible possession if you use it repeatedly? I have a lot of things, and I lament it at times as space can be an issue. But I love to immerse myself in these things too much to give up on “real things”. I have lots of books, but I read them more than once. I have lots of records, but I have listened to them through a multitude of times (that number’s still counting). I have a lot of Blu-ray movies, but I watch them more than once. I’m not saying that digital possessions can’t be used more than once. But to me if it’s an experience you can repeatedly enjoy, I do not see it as a waste.

I guess that brings us to the crux, and my initial statement. I talked about this a while back, and it’s something I support. I can’t see a reason why it wouldn’t be viable in the market. It’s a great idea. Physical books being accompanied by a download for a free ebook version. One of the reasons I haven’t given up my physical possessions is that when I buy a lot of them (most vinyl records, all blu-rays, etc) is that they come with a digital version. I have a beautiful tangible object that yields an experience that is more intimate and irreplaceable, but I also have a convenient and accessible version that I can take with me wherever I go. I think this is the path to go down for the future. Sell digital content of all medias on its own. But sell physical versions with a digital interpretation. It would help propel the digital industry and help connect more people to the network, while still embracing the traditional experience based medium.

Oyster: Subscription based Ebook streaming?

Posted on by under Entertainment, Life

 

The best of both worlds. Photo: Luis Perez

Well, not exactly. But it’s pretty much Spotify for books. This is something I could grow to enjoy, I think. Perhaps with time as the library expands, though I expect that the prices would have to increase. Surely there’s not going to be enough money coming out of it to satisfy publishers. Interesting enough though, to say the least. Another discouraging feature for me is that it is an iPhone only app, with a future iPad release scheduled. I don’t own either of those devices, or plan on owning them any time soon. Maybe an iPad isn’t beyond my wildest imagination, but I’d prefer to buy a device intended for reading, like a kindle. Having had a little play around with a few e-readers and the iPad, I much prefer the screens used on the kindles and e-readers. The iPad screen is beautiful, vibrant and clear. Perfect for video, apps, internet surfing, etc. But it isn’t perfect for reading. I have sensitive eyes, the balance between brightness, softness, contrast on the iPad and iPhone just doesn’t seem to stack up for me, especially compared to the kindle – a device obviously designed purely for reading, with a lot more thought into the ease of viewing that the screen has.

None the less, this is a good idea, I think. I was a fan of Spotify, but I’m also a fan of vinyl. Just like I could be a fan of this in the future I’m also a fan of books. I like to collect things, I like to touch things and immerse myself in the experience of things. I think there’s something that the digital media of the world will never be able to do. Replace that experience. They try, oh yes they do. Hypermediated mediums that are designed to replicate that experience are prevalent in our society. The digital world has a lot to offer, but it will be very hard to match the experience of the analogue world. I guess that’s where we have it good. If we want an experience, it’s easy enough to get it. If we want convenience, compact size and accessible media, we can get it even more easily.

Either way you look at it, there’s enough of each to please everyone, I think it’s a matter of finding a balance and finding a purpose for the multitude of formats and mediums that are on offer.

 

Triumph, Pain and Ill Deeds

Posted on by under Life

In the face of defeat, I have returned victorious! Photo: José Luis Celada Euba

Not even my mum has visited my blog in the last week. Nobody has. The reason, I haven’t posted any content. I have had a hell of a fortnight dealing with viruses, disrupted routines, car hunting, assignments and looking after Grandparents. Not that I’m making excuses. The reason is that when I get stressed I tend to procrastinate a whole lot. Which doesn’t really help anything, as I’ve learned over the years. Too bad I still can’t kick that habit. It’s a hard one. Even worse, I stopped blogging, which was a great outlet for my brain. Writing helps me express myself and get thoughts out and keep thoughts in. It’s a way to regulate my brain.

So let this be my return to the world, I promise not to stop spitting out text for so long next time. It’s time for me to get back in my groove and stop wasting time with things that I don’t need (Curse you facebook). Some better time management and organisation is on the horizon. A shocking cycle. It seems I was only celebrating getting out of a rut a month ago. Well, here we are again. Every time I learn something different, eventually I’ll learn to beat it. Because that’s what you have to do if you want to make it in the world.

Hypertext, Books and Death

Posted on by under Life, Networked Media

Every fire needs a little kindling. Photo: Alienratt

Today’s symposium yielded a number of very relevant and intriguing discussion points. Elliot, Brian and Adrian provided some concrete knowledge from different perspectives regarding the nature of hypertext in itself. Brian’s point on hypertext not being a new “idea” but simply making used of pre-existing technologies, I felt, was an essential component of putting hypertext into context alongside the relevant theory we have explored in this subject and others. It is also important to note that hypertext interacts with different media mediums differently, and different forms work more effectively with different modes and mediums than others. I found Adrian’s link to Wolfgang Ernst’s idea of hypertext being more relative to music than print media to be an interesting perspective that helped to understand the very essence of hypertext and it’s relation to other media formats.

Jasmine reinforced for me the ideas that I expressed in my blog assessment essay – that blogging can be relevant if no-one reads it, given that the space is used appropriately for reflection and critical analysis and noting of one’s own practices and behaviours. It is also a great way to practice writing, and more specifically as Adrian noted, as a way of practicing writing to a speculative audience. When you start to write something good, the audience will come, as long as you put it out there and perform the appropriate transactions – links.

Onto one of my favourite moments for the lecture, being the morbid and often frightening discussion of death. More specifically, the death of books. Adrian raised good points, in that books are now only important because of their relationship with literature, and that in one sense, books are dead (look at how many textbooks, manuals, cookbooks, etc that are online, or e-books instead of physical books). In this sense, the equation and balance between convenience and experience have to be measured. For something like a manual or a textbook, or an academic essay the ease of access and convenience comes first. Even perhaps, for literature and fiction convenience may come first. But for those with interests closely tying into the experience that a book provides, the book is still very relevant. Personally, I like nothing more than to relax and read a good book, made of fine quality paper, with a nice leather binding and crisp pages. The experience is too rewarding for me to give that up. There’s also the collectors factor. I have books that I have collected not only because of the stories within, but because of the very object themselves too, being desirable.

On one final note I want to take a second to think about the health behind books and e-books. I for one, know that I sleep better after having read a book on paper, rather than screen. There’s plenty of evidence out there to suggest that screens do not allow your eyes to relax before sleep, which can significantly affect the effectiveness of your rejuvenation during sleep. Not only this, but as someone with poor sight, sometimes I struggle to focus on a screen. Paper holds the perfect contrast between black and white, but it is softer. It’s easier for my eyes to focus on, therefor the content of the read becomes more digestible.

With that, I can say that I’m a firm believer in books. But it’s also nice to be able to have a convenient portable version of a book. Maybe the book industry could take a page from the music industry and provide free e-book downloads with physical purchases. That’s something I would find very useful and could be a major factor in determining whether I buy a book or not. Is it economically viable for publishers? That’s not for me to know. Time to do some research.

 

Impressions of the Past

Posted on by under Life

That’s my Grandpa on the right.

Today I spent some quality time with my Grandfather, something I don’t do enough of. He’s someone that I have always looked up to and idolised. Perhaps the best role model someone could ever asked for. To those who don’t know him, he’s just another elderly man, an average person. But to those who know him, he is someone extraordinary. His life has not been without challenge (That’s not to say that he hasn’t been pretty well off for most of it, there’s certainly people doing it harder), but the reason I hold so much respect for him is the way he has faced these challenges and shown resilience in the face of adversary. It’s something that I notice is missing from a big portion of my generation (in western society at least). Resilience.

We have had it good, to a greater extent. We’ve lived with relative peace, security, happiness, and stable wealth to survive. He haven’t grow up with huge adversaries. Sure there are some who are doing it tough, but as a generation we’ve been well looked after. My Grandpa grew up in Germany during WWII, he spent a lot of his childhood evenings in bomb shelters and fearing for the worst. He moved to Australia as a contract worker with the Victorian Railway. At the age of 20. Germany didn’t have a great reputation among the allied nations at the time, that didn’t make it any easier. He’s done well, he’s raised a happy family. He’s shown love and gratitude and care to those around him. He’s also suffered from a spinal injury that has left him very immobile in the past couple of decades. He’s missed out on a lot of opportunities, with his grandchildren especially, because of those injuries. I can tell that it upsets him when he can’t achieve a task or do the activity that he wants to. But he does his best, and he tries as hard as he can to make the most out of what he’s got. That’s what I love about him. I respect that, it’s something to look up to.

What sparked these feelings? Well they’ve been there all along. The reason I wanted to write this is because of a moment today. Where my Grandfather shook my hand and tried to secretly give me money while doing it. He used to do it when I was young. It made me feel all nostalgic, warm and fuzzy inside. It pains me to take it, but he won’t let me decline it. He gives more than he should, and is selfless. My memories with him are only happy.

Disclaimer | Background image: Emma Gawen
Skip to toolbar