Essay

What are the uses/limits of the internet in terms of politics and/or democracy? Should we rethink the nature of the political? What happens to the nation/state in the age of networks that have the potential to span the whole planet? What has happened to the idea of "community" in the age of networked digital media? Discuss with an example.

This essay is to outline the aspects, effects and reasons against the clean-feed program that the government is planning to put in place on Australia's internet. It's also to discuss the limits of democracy and the repercussions with implementing the clean-feed program.

What are the limits of democracy? In a democratic society that promotes this important value, one must ask whether democracy is limited or limitless. A popular and effective tool in which politics use to control society is the use of censorship. In relation to this newly suggested idea of a “clean-feed”: a means to censor all explicit material on the internet, this questions the ethical implications as to whether democracy itself is being censored.(6) To censor the internet is to forever change the landscape of cyberspace. The internet is one of the last free mediums in which people worldwide can express opinions, information and entertainment freely without concerns of censorship or viewer discretion.

'The Government failed to advise the filters would be mandatory for all prior to the election'. (4)

So what exactly is the situation with the clean-feed? Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is pushing forward the notion to filter every computer in Australia. In accordance with nocleanfeed.com, the public, ISPs, State Governments, Media and censorship experts have condemned the idea.(2) Another important note is that if the clean-feed is in place, taxes will increase, causing all Australian citizens to pay a small percentage of their taxes for this new system. Networking sites have been used by members of the public to object to this idea. People are able to place a tag on their twitter accounts, disagreeing with the clean-feed. There is also a blog through nocleanfeed.com which notifies the public, essentially, of the disadvantages to a censorship. (2)

The public has voiced its opinion in a commended fashion, through democracy of course. An anti-censorship rally was held in Sydney just recently to oppose the clean-feed.(2) Networking sites such as twitter and facebook are used as means of communication, as a community to object to the government’s plans. But this asks the question: with a censorship in place in the future, would the public be allowed to voice their objections over the internet anymore? Again it relates to the ethical implications which are questioning Australia’s rights and democratic privileges, which the government so called 'promotes'.

'The filter will significantly slow down the internet for all Australians. Trials in Tasmania showed the most efficient filter caused an 87% reduction in net speed.' (5)

The EFA (Electronic Frontiers of Australia) has attacked the clean-feed notion. They have voiced opinion, stating their objection if Australia were to follow in the footsteps of North Korea, China and Burma, which are nations which have the censorship in effect.(1) In a rebuttal to the EFA’s outcry, Senator Conroy said: ‘If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd-Labor Government is going to disagree.’(1) An abrasive argument nonetheless from the Senator, but it should be noted that child pornography is already illegal and the clean-feed would serve little or no purpose to that particular situation. The internet is a colossal cyberspace which sees no limits in perspective to space and quantity of WebPages and content. The clean-feed could not possibly censor the entire internet as hundreds of thousands of new content and information is uploaded daily. A flawed and limited system will not fulfill the objectives that Senator Conroy states.

What would the internet world be with a clean-feed? It would create a nation which is eliminating one of the last free democratic services to the public. It’s a service which would be less appealing and more expensive to run.(7) It’s scary to think the lengths to which the government will go to censor our words and expressions on the internet. Freedom of speech applies to everyday life and should most definitely apply to the internet spectrum also.(8) Understandably there is a strong percentage of illicit and vulgar content on the internet. But an entire censorship of absolutely everything on the internet is not the solution. Those WebPages are illegal for a reason and measures are already in place to prevent illegal behavior. The censorship is an extreme solution to a solvable problem. An entire sweep and span of censorship across the internet should only be focused on the sites with issues, not every website thinkable. The limits of the censorship are undeniable, and could not possibly place a filter on every single website on the net.

The internet is predominately a place for the community. It’s a place in which the public can freely express itself without thoughts of censorship and viewer discretion. The government does have some fair points for wanting to introduce this system, but it’s not the solution, and a strong percentage of Australian citizens agree.(9) The internet should remain an open community. As one of the last places of complete democracy in Australia, the internet should stick to its roots and remain the same. If a clean-feed were to be put in place then it would greatly tarnish the nation and make citizens question democracy itself and the limits to which we are granted. This subject even makes us question the moral fibre of politics itself and one could even say the biased standpoint in which the government tries to impose onto the public. 'I close by offering the outlines of an amended version of the law that promises not to violate the rights of adults, that affords children and adults equal and effective protection against the very harmful practices the current law cannot eradicate, and that prescribes punishments that are consistent with the tolerance necessary to support a more democratic vision of the Internet.' (10)

The public is being urged to object the clean feed. In a survey conducted, of the 18,000 people surveyed, only 13 percent agreed with the clean-feed policy.(3) In the time of an economic struggle, the money should definitely be put to better use. According to news.com.au, the budget for the “cyber-safety” initiative will accumulate to to $51.4 million dollars in the 2009-10 financial years.(3) It’s obvious to say that the strong majority of Australians’ disagree to the federal governments plan, and hopefully democracy will prove strong enough, and the ethical value that is democracy will be done justice.

All webpages accessed on the 12th of October (2009).
(1.) http://www.efa.org.au/2008/01/02/media-release-efa-attacks-clean-feed-proposal/
(2.) http://nocleanfeed.com/
(3.) http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23703848-421,00.html
(4.) http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=cleanfeed
(5.) http://www.stopthecleanfeed.com/

All webpages copyrighted: 2009.

All academic journals accessed on the 12th of October (2009).
(6.) Title: Balancing free speech and censorship: academia's response to the internet.
Author: A. Graham Peace.
Year of Publication: 2003. Vol. 46, Issue 11.

(7.) Title: Censorship on the Internet: From Filters to Freedom of Speech (Issues in Focus).
Author: Wendy Herumin.
Year of Publication: 2004.

(8.) Title: New Labor, new censorship? Politics, religion and filtering in Australia.
Author: Brian Simpson.
Year of Publication: October, 2008. Vol. 17, Issue 3.

(9.) Title: Internet Filtering and Censorship.
Author: Samir N. Hamade.
Year of Publication: 2008.

(10.) Title: Censorship, the Internet, and the child pornographylaw of 1996: A Critique.
Author: Jacques N. Catudal.
Year of Publication: 1999, Vol. 1, Issue 2.

Lecture (Week 10)

This week, instead of getting to play video games, we got to do something much funner...study them (Y).

So there are different types of games, video games is a little outdated:
PC Game.
Console Game.
Online Game.
Arcade Game.
Mobile Gaming

(There are all community based games).

The demographics for 'video games' are 80% for people between 18 - 25 year old Males in a study conducted in 2005.
Also between the ages of 25 - 40 years it was 59%, 41% of that percentage being female.

There is also a social science approach: studying the effects of games on people. Are video games making people violent?

There is a humanities approach: Meaning and content of the games, for example narrative. They are in fact artifact/mediums of art.

And finally the industry abd egineering approach: the development of games/New Communication Technologies.

However antisocial and unappealing to some people video games may appear, it improves:
1. Peripheral vision.
2. Short term memory.
3. Split decision making.
4. Manual Dexterity.

We also did a test to see whether a woman would be more attracted to a guy who played video games in his spare time in his mother's basement. Or a really athletic guy who is extremely muscly and has all the stereotypical qualities that the actresses in the movie 'Grease' really went for. SHOCKINGLY, most of the women picked the athletic guy, but in the end it all comes down to perseption.

Please note: Wasn't nerdy guy in example =]

Artwork.

Here is the original photo: (See Above).

This is what it looks like with no 'saturation': (See above).

This is what it looks like with maximum 'tint': (See above).

Maximum brightness: (See above).


Maximum darkness: (See above).

Please note: understandably, this is a simple affect that can be done by pretty much anyone, but it was the best that I could do with the next-to-nothing software I have available.

News Report

This News story is about killer dogs which are terrorising the world!

Here's the link for the iReport version:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-338635

Politics (Tutorial)

Here's the requirements for the week 8 tutorial:

1. Sign an e-petition.


E-petition signed!

2. Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site. (Nine MSN).



Basically, this blog was about Russel Brand and how he claims to have fallen in love with Katy Perry. Although this blog is fairly pointless and irrelevant to anything important in life whatsoever...it's still a popular article. However, seeing as it wasn't exactly a serious article, I felt it was necessary to post a funny comment (through the words of Kayne West).

3. What is Barak Obama doing today.

He hosted doctors from all 50 states at the White House, coming together in a powerful testimonial to what reform is all about.

Reference: http://www.barackobama.com/

4. Find out who your local, state and federal representatives.

The local representative is Councillor Dawn Crichlow.
The state representative is Peter Lawlor.
The federal representative is Steven Ciobo.

Reference: http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/t_standard.aspx?PID=5783

5. Look up the Queensland or Australian Hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament.

On September the 22nd:

Hon. PJ LAWLOR (Southport—ALP) (Minister for Tourism and Fair Trading) (10.03 am):

'Queensland’s tourism industry is feeling the impact of the current economic climate, and the latest

domestic tourism visitation numbers to our state reflect this. For the year ending 30 June 2009

Queensland received 16 million overnight domestic visitors, down six per cent on the previous year. On

a more positive note, Queensland maintained its second largest market share of domestic visitors,

receiving 24 per cent compared to 34 per cent for New South Wales.

During these tough economic times, this government understands that we must do everything

possible to ensure we support Queensland’s multibillion dollar tourism industry and continue to attract

visitor expenditure in Queensland of almost $19 billion each year. Tourism directly employs 119,000

Queenslanders and a further 97,000 indirectly.'

(I agree...keep it up!)

Reference: http://www.peterlawlor.com.au/southport/pages/posts/personal-property-securities-commonwealth-powers-bill4927.php

7. Read the lectures and readings, pursue a couple of the topics that you find most interesting and then post your blog with your well-considered thoughts about the theory and practice of politics.

One of the most prominent issues debated at the moment and has been for a while now is the censorship that the government is attempting to employ onto the internet. Obviously censorship should be used for specific age, for example, young children who shouldn't be exposed to explicit material on the internet. An example of this is songs on iTunes. Some songs have explicit lyrics on it and the language is bleeped which many people disagree with. Personally I think it tarnsishes the song and also it shouldn't be altered purely for a small age demographic. However, I believe that parents should enforce the boundaries of censorship expose them to explicit material when they feel it is ready.

It should also be taken into consideration the fact that people don't consider it democratic to censor the internet. The internet is one of the last mediums which is uncesored and the last place in which people from across the world can express themselves completely without having to worry about their language. Therefore it's safe to say that I disagree with the clean-feed idea, although to be fair, the government does have a valid excuse to impose censorship. Kids of society today are much more exposed to illicit materials, such as pirated songs and movies and also explicit material such as Youtube through quick access of the internet. As a result the youth of society have become more desensitised and setting the benchmark of a more vulgar generation.

Regardless of this, I still feel that the internet should not be sensored. The majority of people will not be impresisonable by the material that is leeked and posted onto the internet. But once again it's the minority which needs to be taken into consideration. In the end however, the government will make it's decision...with of course the influence of democracy. =]

8. What do you think of the government's plans to censor internet?

Personally I disagree with it. Understandably movies and other forms of media should be censored for young kids, but there comes a time when I think it's becoming to domineering. The internet is a great place to find anything that you desire, and if the internet were to be censored, then it would not be as entertaining, nor popular. For a person my age, I'm interested in video's that have explicit language and would be annoyed at the idea of censorship. In the end, I think it should be up to the parents to enforce whether their kids can watch certain sites and whether they can watch video's with explicit or vulgar content.

9. What place does censorship have in a democracy?

Democracy represents freedom of speech. Democracy is in the hands of the people. Censorship is something that I think tarnishes the rights that democracy promotes. I don't believe censorship should be in place in regards to the internet. In perspective to films, I agree with ratings and censorships, but as explained above it's up to the parents to enforce viewer discresion.

Even More Awesomeness!

More Awesomeness!

Awesomeness!

Lecture (Week 8)

Today we focussed on the software, Abode Flash...

It's a good software, but as Jason explained, all GOOD software is deeper and more complex than others, for example: paint.

One of the main methods of getting to know the software is of course by playing around with the tool, or going onto the internet and searching for a tutorial.

He advised us not to buy tutorial books as they can be hired at the library or even downloaded online.

Another great way to finding information is by asking forums, at people are ego maniacs. But a problem with this is whether you will receive a reply within a day or so.

Also, it's important to save as many times as you can, and also not to override documents, because if you screw up and only have one saved document, then you can't go back to a separately saved file.

Plus, he also stated that it can take a long time, even years to learn the software. So it's important that we learn the software before we die because of our unhealthy lifestyles.

(Also, don't buy the software, stealing it is much easier...and free!)

Freeware Apps

For the week 7 lecture, Jason showed us some online sites which offered free software programs. So for this weeks tutorial, we were asked to download a software, so i downloaded the eWoss toolbar. Basically, it has live updates on the weather and business as well as other current events.



It's an interesting and useful tool which provides information on current events and basically everyone can benefit from this software. There were thousands of software programs that anyone can download for free and theirs a five star rating also to notify people as to whether this program is actually good or not.

It's Outrageous

This man stands for what's right:



Amen!

I know this songs been played to death, but let's face it, it's brilliant:

Week 5 (Tutorial)

This lesson we needed to find three short films with a maximum duration of ten minutes.

The first one I found was on YouTube. Entitled: 'The Strangers', it's a foreign film which has won a few awards and has proven to be quite succesful on YouTube, having over 600,000 views which is an impressive feat. The general outline for the short film is a man who boards the subway and finds himself sitting across from a Jewish man. He himself is Jewish, which strikes a problem when a group of Neo-Nazis come over and sit down next to them. In the end the two of them escape the subway and part ways. This short thriller has no dialogue, but still manages to employ an effective and suspenseful storyline:



The second short film is entitled: 'Black Button'. Also popular on YouTube, having been viewed over 1,000,000 times, this film has also received awards. It's a short film, with one word to describe it: disturbing. A man is sent to purgatory with a choice: either, he pushes the black button and receives ten million dollars, but in turn, kills an innocent person. Or he takes the key and leaves the room immediately. Little does the man know until he decided to push the black button that it will condemn him to hell based on his decision of greed and selfishness, as opposed to the key which would lead him to salvation, in other words, 'heaven'. Heavy stuff, but a clever and insightful short film:



For the third short film, also found on YouTube, it's called: 'Killing Time'. Not as popular as the other two short films, but still successful nonetheless. Basically, it's a man who destroys about ten pocket watches against the wall and then the whole short film is played backwards to that all the clocks are restored to their normal state. I'm not entirely sure about the point of this film but if i had to take a guess it would be an example of taking the metaphor of 'killing time' literally. Interesting I suppose, but a little wierd:



The reason why I chose these films, apart from the fact that they were easy to find was that they were all very abstract and clever. They are very insightful and not pointless, they have values and morals embedded which is always important.

Photo Effects.

Here are some cool effects that you can do with a program I found on the desktop:

X-Ray:

Pencil:

Example of a Quick Video:


Four-in-One:

You can add backgrounds:


Look like an idiot:

Look like an idiot in a 'foreign country':

Pretend to have been to Wimbledon.

You get the picture...

Video Copying Skills

This was necessary =]

Week 4 (Lecture)

In the lecture for the fourth week of new communication technologies, we analysed a time-line of the development of screen and cinema. It spanned from the beginning in 1895 to 2010.

So in order to provide a brief yet accurate account of the time-line, here is a list of the development of screen and cinema:

1895 - The Birth of Cinema.
1897 - The First Permanent Movie Theatres.
1903 - The First Narrative Film.
1905 - The Nickelodeons.
1906 - 1st Full Length Feature Film.
1909 - The Movie Palaces.
1912 - The Serials.
1913 - The Birth of the 'Studio System'.
1914 - The First Movie Star.
1919 - An Industry on the Rise.
1920 - Expressionism.
1921 - Sound.
1922 - Montage.
1923 - Animation, Hollywood (Land) and Technicolour Dreams.
1925 - The Mile High Club.
1927 - Birth of the Talkies.
1929 - First 100% colour, Talking, Singing, Dancing Picture and The Oscars.
1933 - Automobile Movie Theatre.
1937 - Snow White.
1939 - TV and The Greatest Year in Film History.
1941 - Film Noir.
1945 - Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting!
1952 - 3D.
1953 - The B-Movie.
1955 - Movies on the TV.
1956 - Video Killed the Radio Star.
1958 - Cinema Verite.
1959 - Shocking, but True and Something's a bit Fishy.
1960 - Psycho! (The Movie).
1963 - The Multiplex and Video Killed the Radio Star Pt 2.
1966 - Star Trekkin'.
1967 - The One and Only.
1968 - Faces.
1969 - The One and Only Pt 2.
1970 - A disastrous Beginning and The Really Big Screen.
1971 - Proud to be Black and The Blockbuster.
1972 - PrOn.
1978 - Halloween (The Movie) and Lasers.
1980 - HBO.
1981 - I Want My MTV.
1982 - Film and Video Arcade Game.
1983 - Dragon's Lair.
1985 - The Home Blockbuster.
1986 - Computer-Generated-Animation.
1988 - Live-Action and Animation.
1991 - All you base are belong to us.
1993 - El Mariachi.
1994 - Pulp Fiction (The Movie).
1995 - Toy Story.
1997 - DVD's and Troops.
1998 - HDTV, The Last Broadcast and VOD.
1999 - The most profitable film in Hollywood history and TiVo.
2000 - Asian Action and The Naughties.
2001 - Inspired by the game and The Hire.
2002 - Movies on Demand.
2004 - What Backlot?
2005 - DVD killed the video star, feeling Blu and Inspired by the movie, by the game?!
2006 - YouTube.
2007 - Broadband Release.
2010 - Vibrators (seats).

Fascinating stuff...

Tutorial (week 4)

Today were doing a scavenger hunt! We have to find the answers to completely random questions without using Google or Wikipedia. Okay, here they are:

1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin? How long did it take to grow?

A. The biggest pumpkin weighs 1689 pounds and it took 87 days

Reference: (http://www.bigpumpkins.com/viewarticle.asp?id=162&gid=50)

2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Lilly Allen?

A. According to an anonymous source, Twitter is the most common and reliable way to communicate with Lilly Allen.

Reference: Craig Thompson (Fellow Student).

3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?

A. A giraffe's tongue can grow up to 27 inches long.

Reference: (http://emaleighsblog.blogspot.com)

4. What does Glycomics mean? What does the term 'seagull manager' refer to?

A. “Glycomics,” the scientific attempt to characterize and study carbohydrates, is a rapidly emerging branch of science, for which informatics is just beginning.

Reference: (http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000075)

Definition:
Transient, highly critical manager: a manager whose interaction with the workforce consists in arriving, criticizing everything and everybody harshly, and leaving again.

Reference: (http://www.ask.com/bar?q=seagull+manager&page=1&qsrc=0&ab=4&u=http%3A%2F%2Fuk.encarta.msn.com%2Fdictionary_1481585101%2Fseagull_manager.html)

5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film? Which of his films Had 'Blondie' in it?

A. David Cronenberg's first film was a film called 'Transfer' in 1966.

Reference: (http://www.ask.com/bar?q=What+was+David+Cronenberg%27s+first+feature+film%3F+Which+of+his+films+Had+%27Blondie%27+in+it%3F&page=1&qsrc=0&ab=2&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freebase.com%2Fview%2Fen%2Fdavid_cronenberg%2F-%2Ffilm%2Fdirector%2Ffilm)

6. When was the original ‘Hacker’s Manifesto’ Written?

A. The original was written in 1986 on the 8th of January. It was written by Lord Blanken Sheperd.

Reference: (http://emaleighsblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/1501art-tutorial-task-three-part-1.html)

7. Why do phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?

A. Ever noticed that phone numbers given in American movies and TV shows invariably start
with the 555 prefix? Ever wondered why 555 and not something else?

The answer lies 30 years ago or more when the use of exchange names as part of the telephone number was still popular in the USA. Dials had letters as well as numbers and the first 3 letters of the exchange name were dialled followed by numbers. An example might be CENtral 78978. You dialled CEN 78978 or, using all numbers, 236 78978.

It so happened that 5 on the dial corresponded with J K and L and you can’t make any English place names using any combination of J, K and L as the first 3 letters. So the 555 code was allocated to service levels such as Directory Assistance, Operator, Repair Service, etc.

Due to the "low fill" of the 555 code, Hollywood was encouraged to quote 555 numbers in their productions to prevent real subscribers being harassed by members of the public trying out the numbers quoted on the screen. Generic and satirical advertisements and commercials often used 555 numbers. In the early days of exchange names the prefix KLondike-5 was used as this exchange did not exist.

Of course, there was a 555 code in each city (or each locality with its own area code). Therefore there were a lot of 555 codes around the USA being under-used. And with the advent of long distance dialling, anyone could call anywhere by adding an area code to the 555 number.

Reference: (http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Why+do+phone+numbers+in+Hollywood+films+start+with+%27555%27%3F&page=1&qsrc=2417&ab=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telephonecollecting.org%2Fcode.htm)

8. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Sydney?

A. The cheapest mode of transport that could be found was a flight amounting to $103 through Virgin Blue.

Reference: (http://www.ask.com/bar?q=What+is+the+cheapest+form+of+travel+from+the+Gold+Coast+to+Sydney%3F&page=1&qsrc=0&ab=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.airfaresflights.com.au%2Fflights%2FGold%2520Coast%2FSydney-SYD%2F)

Please Note: Unless of course you walk the entire way, which would definitely be cheaper.

9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?
A.

10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?

A. The punk band is called the 'The Black Assassins'.

Reference: (http://emaleighsblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/1501art-tutorial-task-three-part-1.html)

Lecture (Week 3)

Today is our third lecture for New Communication Technologies. We're learning about gathering the concepts of making movies. We're learning about the language of the cinema, otherwise known as 'Cine-Speak'. To start off, we looked at the different shot sizes. There is the 'Long Shot', 'Medium Shot', 'Mid Shot', 'Medium Close Up', 'Close Up', 'Big Close Up', 'Extreme Close Up', etc. Sometimes, a picture can describe particular words. For example: The 'When?' of a story could be represented by the picture of a clock. The 'What?' of a story could be represented merely by the background in the shot and the people inside it. And the 'Who?' of a story can be represented by a close up of a person's face. The 'Why?' of a story is a bit harder to portray through pictures, but most commonly represented by facial expressions to paint a picture of what is being said without dialogue. The 'How?' is generally represented through a Medium Close Up or a series of Close Up's.

This is an example of a Medium Close Up, portrayed through the iconic horror film character: Frankenstein. Bibliography: (http://cineprism.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/frankenstein-3d.jpeg)

This is an example of a Wide Shot, portrayed through a soccer game: Bibliography: (http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~lah/emma/Images/ERH_8years/wide_shot.JPG)


This is an example of a Close Up: Bibliography: (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Galanthus_nivalis_close-up_aka.jpg)

This is an example of a Mid Shot: Bibliography: (http://robinjames.com/db3/00239/robinjames.com/_uimages/RobinMidShotCanyon.JPG)

Another important aspcet in different shots, is that all the content is fitted into the picture. This is otherwise known as Head Room. There is also the factor known as Talking Room. This when we need to fit the character in the proper position to make his dialogue appeal natural and appropriate. Especially when you have two people in the scene, you need enough space for both characters to fit into the shot to have appropriate talking room.

Important note: rule of thirds. (Fitting the characters interest into the cross-points of the shot)

So to conclude, basically we learned an extremely long and strenuous amount of information about different camera angles and positioning people and places in order to create the 'who', 'what', 'where', 'when', 'why' and 'how' of Cinematography. Good stuff :)

Week 3 Tutorials - fun!

Today is our third tutorial of the semester. In the lecture tomorrow we will be focusing on referencing and research of information and more importantly, it's more than just Wikipedia and Google! Unfortunately for me Wikipedia and Google are the main websites that I use for absolutely everything, so this will definitely be a challenge. Obviously we can't use Wikipedia because basically anyone can use it and edit it, but it's so convenient to finding facts and figures about whatever.

So, for this tutorial, we have to explain the acronyms: ECU, WS and MS. At first, I didn't have a clue what these three things meant, but I decided to use good old Google to help out :). I wasn't entirely sure which one it stood for, it was coming up with chess clubs and universities and even a sporting team, but I came across this program called the ECU speech, language and hearing clinic. Basically it helps people with hearing and speaking disorders such as dyslexia.

'The Scottish Rite Program specialises in diagnostic evaluations for children and adolescents who are suspected of having or have been diagnosed with a language-based learning disability including problems with pre-reading skills, reading, writing, understanding speech or expressing themselves'

For the complete story, here's the link:
http://www.ecu.edu/news/newsstory.cfm?ID=1086

Once writing all that information about something I later found out was completely irrelevant to what those three acronyms actually meant, I regrouped and began 'researching' on Google again. However, I spent a fair amount of time on the other stuff about children disabilities and felt that was just as important as the other ECU so I decided to leave it in the blog.

ECU, in actually stood for Extreme Close Up. This is when the camera is in depth and usually focused on a particular area, for example: an eye.


Here is a close up of a young kid's face smiling :). Here's the link: (http://img6.travelblog.org/Photos/22651/263348/t/2171063-Extreme-close-up-0.jpg)


Here is an EXTREME close up of a woman's eye. Oh and here's the link to show my exemplary researching skills: (http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/PAB3836.jpg)

Here is a Wide Shot of a football game: Bibliography: (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Arena_football_Kansas_City_wide_shot.jpg)

Tutorial (week 2)

In this lesson we're exploring convergent technologies which are developing the technology in society. However there are particular devices which are deemed quite pointless and more importantly, unnecessary....







People of the 21st century, and in particular, generation Y see these devices as very appealing and interesting, fueling the concept of pointless convergence devices by spending thousands upon thousands of dollars into this outlet of technology.






Only time will tell what new and pointless devices the world will witness...

It's interesting to think how technology has developed. We have the fundamental devices which have revolutionised society, for example a toaster and a microwave. Then people are beginning to combine various devices to create a completely new one. The mobile phone has been modified and advanced for many years now and the cool new capabilities and accessories appear endless...

Lecture (week 1)

Last week we had our first lecture for New Communication Technology. In this lecture we basically had an overview of the course and what we were going to learn and complete for the semester. At the beginning of the lecture we learned about all the new and old devices of technology and how they are used in everyday life. Then we covered intersubjectivity and intertextuality. We also covered convergence and how over the past ten years or so convergence is becoming more common. So far the course appears really interesting, not to complex and hopefully it continues to be this much fun!!!

Week One (Tutorial)

Today was our first tutorial for New Communication Technologies. In this lesson we basically created another g-mail account and a new blog account. So far the subject seems quite interesting and hopefully it continues that way. Every week we make another entry as part of our virtual diary as part of out weekly assessment.