Monthly Archives: August 2014

Online Self

Posted on by under Readings

In David Weinburger’s piece, Small Pieces Loosely Joined he looks at the way we depict ourselves online compared to how we present ourselves in real life. Do we really have an online personality?

Weinburger talks about this online anonymity that allows users to create their own profile, often one that exaggerates or completely re-creates our real offline personality.

I don’t think any Internet user, especially those that use sites such at Facebook or Twitter can claim they haven’t slightly altered there online form to be more appealing. Even the content we choose to share or not share impacts the way others view them online. We choose to share the positives and choose to not share the negatives. I argue that this creates an ‘online personality’.

However, having said this, it’s true that humans also present different versions of the self in the physical world. The way you act when interacting with your family at the dinner table compared to how you act when having some drinks with your friends on the weekend will be vastly different! I think the point is though that the internet makes us actively think about self representation by giving us the tools to easily construct who it is we want the world to believe we are.

 

Monkey Selfie and Copyright

Posted on by under Random

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After last weeks readings and symposium I thought this was really interesting.

A photographer set up a camera in front of this monkey but the monkey actually pressed the button.

So now the question has been raised, who owns this photo and whose rights are being breached under copyright laws?

This world has gone bananas.

Symposium, enjoyable?

Posted on by under Symposium

creativecommons

 

This weeks symposium was focussed around three main questions based on this weeks readings.

I found the whole Q&A style, aka the non-lecture, to be an informative and interesting way of conveying information. The deconstruction of the traditional form of a lecture really allowed for a more two-way communication, ultimately I found the symposium to be enjoyable! I know, not the normal describing word associated with the idea of a university ‘lecture’.

Through answering and exploring the three main questions, Adrian assisted my understanding of copyright laws, although I must admit that I am now 100% more terrified that I will break these laws throughout my career. I guess sometimes ignorance is bliss.

We discussed the idea of critiquing the work of others, giving an almost green light, in the eyes of copyright law. This was an interesting point and as long as we can back up our opinions with reliable information, we should be covered.

I was interested to hear that copyright infringements are often not followed up as copyright laws fall under civil law. It’s therefore often not worth the time and money to follow up these infringements.

Overall, a very interesting symposium. I hope this style of ‘lecturing’ becomes more widespread throughout the university, hopefully sometime before I graduate.

 

Les Miserables

Posted on by under Uncategorized

And people say theatre is a dying art form. I went to see Les Miserables last week. Such an incredible production with a flawless cast.

I feel as though today we all live in such a artificially produced media sphere. We often forget the importance and effectiveness of personal human emotion.

An avid fan of the film adaptation of Les Miserables I was expecting the live show to be entertaining but certainly not better than the film. I could not comprehend that a staged performance could outdo a perfectly edited and enhanced film production.

I was happily proven wrong.

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Yes Russell!

Posted on by under Random

A very interesting video of Russell Brand and his view on the Palestine/Israel conflict.

This devastating conflict has be seen and critiqued from many angles. Sadly certain media outlets force their personal agenda’s on the consumer.

In my perspective it is this very idea of media censorship that sends social media to the forefront of news consumption. Through social media devices every view can be heard without the constraints of censorship. One of the true victories for modern news reporting.

Get around him!

Posted on by under Random

One of my friends from high school Andrew Moloney has recently won gold at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Makes me think, what the heck have I achieved since high school? A half finished university degree and a coffee addiction.

Andrew Moloney

Networked Literacy: “Yes, it’s difficult”

Posted on by under Networked literacy, Readings
Knowledge

In an interesting piece by Adrian Miles “Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge” he looks at the communications sphere known at networked literacy.

He begins by looking at a comparison between print literacy and networked literacy using Penny (a student) and how she visits a library to get out a book.

Miles begins to explain that to be network literate is not the same as, being computer literate.

This can be seen in the same way that we understand print literate is much more than just being able to read and write.

Miles goes on to define network literacy as being able to participate as a peer within the emerging knowledge networks that are now the product of the Internet, and to have as ‘deep’ an understanding of the logics or protocols of these networks as we do of print.

While this definition still has a tendency to confuse me on multiple levels, the example he gave of his daily works began to unravel the given definition.

On a daily basis he might read something online that is relevant to his teaching. “I will write about this in my blog, providing a link to this content. I will also bookmark this site via my del.icio.us account so that I can find it again and so that others may also find it. Meanwhile, I’ve also added some academic references to CiteULike, and I know my students and others can get this information because each service provides custom RSS feeds that can be subscribed to. Next, I move two photographs from my mobile phone to Flickr, one of which I’ll be publishing into my blog and the other will be shared with some colleagues for a paper we’re writing together.” etc etc.

What I have come to understand from the piece is that networked literacy is the ability to weave together multiple media platforms (web pages, blogs, photo’s, video’s etc) and distribute them across the network in a simple manner.

Or as Jill Walker has defined it:

“Network literacy means linking to what other people have written and inviting comments from others, it means understanding a kind of writing that is a social, collaborative process rather than an act of an individual in solitary. It means learning how to write with an awareness that anyone may read it: your mother, a future employer or the person whose work you’re writing about.”

I think I like her definition better.

 

Essayer: to try

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Mind blown

The humble essay, derived from the French verb Essayer, meaning to try. As highlighted in Paul Graham’s The Age of the Essay, the aim of any essay should be to ‘try and find the answer’.

This definition, along with many other aspects of the much loved ‘modern’ essay, has been lost in today’s schooling system. Instead of searching for answers in our essays, we are simply imitating “English professors, who are imitating classical scholars, who are merely the inheritors of a tradition growing out of what was, 700 years ago, fascinating and urgently needed work.” Graham kindly suggests that this is simply a waste of time. (MIND BLOWN)

Graham instead suggests that an essay doesn’t begin with a statement, but with a question. In the schooling system I, and many of my fellow students, were brought up in we were taught to take a position and defend it. Instead what we must be searching for is a door that’s ajar and proceed to walk inside and explore the contents.

However, it’s true that questions aren’t enough and  an essay has to try and come up with some answers. Although we must not always succeed, best to think of these as “experiments with inconclusive results”.  These ‘inconclusive’ essays will not be published but those essays that are published should ideally tell the reader something he didn’t already know.

It was heartwarming to know that Graham also shares my frustrating habit of meandering his way through essays. When he explained that this was a good thing, I practically jumped for joy. He explains that an essay is supposed to be a search for truth and any essay that didn’t twist and turn, meandering through the information, would simply be suspicious.

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