"Indecent Media Exposure"

• When I woke up this morning, I woke up to the alarm on my phone my not so favourite song any more.
• I then had breakfast and read the front of the 'Milo' cereal packaging whilst waiting for the kitchen to be free.
• I then got ready and brushed my teeth, had to open a new toothpaste read the backing of the box as you do when you have nothing better to do.
•  I then called Julie to tell her I was going to be 5 minutes late.
• Drove to our meeting spot, whilst driving listening to the radio.
• Parked my car then went to the petrol station (our meeting spot) Looked at the price of petrol and was disgusted might I add.
• On the way to our meeting spot and to uni viewed multiple adverts on billboards, buses and bus stops.
• Followed street signs to the Gold Coast then when we veered closer to uni saw Griffith University campus signs.
• When we got to uni, I read Adam's CC shirt.
• Sat down in the lecture theater watched the the screen and projector that Adam had prepared his Lecture on.
• Viewed different types of videos.
• Received a text message.
• In our break made a call.
• Used my phone to access Facebook and to check emails.
• Bought a drink at the vending machine.
• Went to the cafeteria and read their menu.
• Went to the tutorial and used the computer and the internet to complete tasks.
• Went to the library to source a book.
• Went home following signs back.
• Went to the movies to see "The Green Hornet".
• Bought tickets, saw advertising everywhere!!
• Bought pop corn and lollies.

I never really took notice of all the media in my life until now, as it was just there a part of my everyday life. I'm sure I've also underestimated how much it affects me as a person from what brand of toothpaste I choose use to what I decide to wear that day. I'm also positive I've overlooked a lot of media as it is embedded into our lives that we just take it for what it is without asking questions.
It's very distressing to see how much we are subjected to media and the underlying messages it send us without questions asked.

"I made this. you played this. we are enemies"

When first encountering the works of Jason Nelson I was fairly confused. I didn't understand how his works could be under the same category as literature and poetry. When viewing the website all I could see was confusion with random text and pictures displayed on my screen. Half of the website looked to me as though a child had attempted to create a website.

However, when examining closer and looking past the already preconceptions of this website I was forced to step outside the box with my thinking and take it for what it is. Jason Nelson has conveyed some pretty cool yet sophisticated ideas in his works, they evoke questions and emotions whether that of frustration or success.

Jason Nelson has created a website that requires your full attention, if you don't then you will end up lost and confused as I did when I first tried to decode the messages that he was purveying. The tasks at hand enable you choose a path and according to that path change the meaning of the text and/or game which then alters each time you play. I like the fact that it's interactive and engages you even when you don't exactly know what's going on, it gives you the sense that you must play on to find out what happens next.

There was a beginning part to this blog, but it got censored... *apologies*

The Australian government have shown interest in filtering the internet, commonly known as censoring. Many countries have already implemented this filtering system (The Great Firewall of China), blocking content that may be 'harmful' to the community.

Understandably ‘filtering’ the internet has a place. However, distinguishing the 'grey area' of ‘unacceptable’ content for me, is the major issue of censoring the internet. It is this grey area that has people against internet censoring as it strips us of our rights of freedom of expression and speech. It’s these basic human rights, which are being undermined and disregarded by the government. 

Who has the overhand and control on what is seen as a threat? By removing all possible sites and internet space that is deemed unnecessary or a danger to the public of Australia, isn’t the government removing one key element of life?... choice. So asides from living day to day, voting when its time and paying our taxes, just what quality of life do they expect for us. 

If the government has the ability to deem content as unacceptable or unethical as they see fit, they’re giving up your right to make decisions as an adult. The government expresses that it will beneficial for the community. However, why have complete control over the internet which is seen as public domain. Who ultimately decides which is right or wrong for anyone person to see?

The Australian Government have already failed when trying to filter the internet, they opted for parents to download a filtering system called "Net Alert'. Two weeks after introducing the filtering program the password protection was cracked by a thirteen year old.
If internet censorship goes ahead, who's to say we won't have another re-occurrence of the  'Net Alert' joke?
Censoring the internet will only allow for more content to be obtained therefore more content to be leaked.

"The Fields of Play"

Even from the early starts of Backgammon, games have been the number one driving force behind the technological innovations that we are lucky to have today. They have helped shape and alter the direction of gaming progression depending on their popularity.

Games in general are a hot topic, as popularity of casual and serious gaming is on the steady rise. Elements behind games and the effects that it has on society as a whole and individually is quite astounding. With talks of negative impacts such as addiction, depression and anti social behaviour, it would be unfair to leave the scales unbalanced. Especially when all positive avenues of games are left unexplored or unanswered for.

Further study into games branch on to the general idea behind what user experience the developers have build towards (good v bad) or in many cases a sandbox structuring, which gives the user his own moral choice between right and wrong. Two main terms which helps describe the gaming ideologies that lay under the surface of most games is Narratology and Ludology.
Academic study of  Narratology and Ludology is a relatively new study area as the gaming world gets increasingly larger. These two main study areas are vastly different from one another however, both fields play a  great importance in understanding the social and cultural aspects of gaming.


People who study Narratology believe games can be studied the same way one would study texts (books, films etc,) Narratology is about literacy in a sense, based around a game that follows a more structured sequence of cutscense and story development. Users mostly play to attain a story built into a game like media and continue to play as the story unfolds in gradual progression.

Ludology is a game that flows on with minimal input from a story board, sometimes but not always has less character involvement and has stronger ties to multiplayer, positive aspects of a game such as this is that users have the ability to drop stop and then continue play without losing any detachment from the story. People who study Ludology argue story development is for 'decoration only' and game play elements are vital to understand the new gaming culture.

Day 8 Tutorial Responce

•   Sign an e-petition.

"The Federal Government is going ahead with plans to force all Australian servers to filter internet traffic and block any material the Government deems ‘inappropriate’. Under the plan, the Government can add any ‘unwanted’ site to a secret blacklist."
http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet/442 

• What is Barack Obama up to today?

President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington. Tuesday 25th January

http://topics.oregonlive.com/tag/Barack%20Obama/index.html 

•  Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are.

 Local: Aidan McLindon

 State: John Reginald

Federal: Teresa Gambaro

What do you think of the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")?
The government have proposed a two tiered process for censoring the internet, the first is mandatory where the government seizes all unlawful and prohibited sites. The second tier is an optional filter aimed at families that additionally blocks more content.
Australia is already behind speed with the boardband technological advances, by censoring the internet it has been proven that it will slow our already slow internet by up to 87%.
With this said the filtering system has multiple bugs with tests showing that is misses copious amounts of 'inapporpriate' content, whilst blocking and black listing one in twelve legitimate sites.
I feel that the government need to rethink censoring the internet and fund education online safety and how to use the internet safely.

http://www.getup.org.au/files/campaigns/internetcensorshipfactsheet.pdf

Tutorial Questions Day 6

I was quite hesitant yet somewhat intrigued to see what sort of information was on the internet about me. The tutorial task required me to Google "Jodie Worth" into the search engine. Firstly, I searched the web and was very surprised. I didn't find any direct link to my facebook account however, this blog that I'm currently typing is on the second page.
I found some indirect links to me through the use of my friends. I found comments that I had posted on my friends wedding photographer's blog, and various comments that I had posted back in the years of Myspace and more recently Facebook.
I then wanted to see what photos there were of me in the images section of this search engine. The first picture of me (my friend posted it on Facebook), was of me in a low cut dress... Not an appropriate picture for my future students to see :|
This made me very nervous to what I would further find as a scroll down. The only other photo's that were directly of me were of me and the other Bridesmaids at my friends wedding. I found it extremely weird that I saw quite a few photo's of my friends photo's and their old Facebook profile pictures when searching my name.

Is there away for us to remove these photos?

• 1.     What is the weight of the world’s biggest machine? How much did it cost to build?

Knock Nevi's: World's Largest Ship Ever Constructed

Weight: 564,763 tons (Yahoo)

Cost: $9 billion. (ChaCha.com)

 

• 1.     Find a live webcam in Antarctica. Can you find a place to stay in Antarctica?

http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/casey

Mil810 Hotel (http://www.virtualtourist.com/hotels/Antarctica/Hotels_and_Accommodations-Antarctica-TG-C-1.html)

 

 

•  When and what was the first example of global digital communication?

The telegraph in 1837 Line telegraphy perfected was one of the first examples of Global Digital Communication.

http://cseng.aw.com/catalog/uploads/Glover_Digital%20Comms_C01%20reduced%20file%20size.pdf

  

• What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?  

Jet star $69.00, one way, two months from now

• Who is Douglas Engelbart? What is he know for?  

“Engelbart's most famous invention is the computer mouse, 1960’s dedicated his life to the pursuit of developing technology to augment human intellect.”

http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/engelbart.html

 

• What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Stephen Conroy?  (who is this guy?)

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator

Contact details:

Parliamentary office - Tel: 02 6277 7480

Ministerial office - Tel: 03 9650 1188

http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/

• How would you define the term 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean?

“The structure of a system. A system model. The word refers to the branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of reality or being. It therefore refers to "what exists" in a system: all elements within all category hierarchies and the relationships between them.”

http://www.answers.com/topic/ontology#ixzz1C24yjUjs

 

 

• What type of camera is used to make ‘Google Street View’?

  

   

  http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9724604-1.html
  
  
  
  
  
  

"A day in the life of Chuck"