Politics and The Internet

Politics is a sensitive topic, which can bring out the worst in a lot of people. People can be outspoken and argumentative when others don’t agree with their views. The lecture and tutorial this week was based on Politics and the Internet, with a lot of focus based on democracy. I would like to focus on the role of eDemocracy, which is defined as the Internet’s role in real world politics that exists predominantly off the Internet. The Internet can both help and hinder political campaigns and ideas in today’s world. It can help to raise awareness of campaigns, get more people involved in the issues at hand, and in general voice the opinions of the government. On the other hand, people can become online renegades, thwarting the governments ideas, constantly protesting the government using online tools, or news of a political scandal can travel quickly and be on every website in record time.

Another interesting part of this week’s topic was the reading by Brain Whiteman, the co-founder and CTO of the Echo Nest. Whiteman explores about how the types of music people listen to, and the possibility of it relating to their political preferences. The blog was very interesting, and offered a unique point of view, but personally, I don’t believe these things can relate to each other as a rule. The theory could work in certain circumstances, but not to every person, as music taste can vary quite a bit, and so to narrow down on a persons political party based on their music taste would be very difficult.

Whitman, B. (2012) "How well does music predict your politics?"

Stockwell, S 2013, ‘Week 6 – Politics and the Internet’, Retrieved from Griffith University, School of Humanities, Learning@Griffith Website: <www.griffith.edu.au>

social media week 5

The lecture and tutorial in week 5 were centered on social media, a topic most people are well educated on in today’s society. The tutorial task was to make a survey with questions corresponding to social media. The questions were:

1.  Which social networking site do you prefer? (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Other)

2. What do you use social media for? (Communication, Business, News, Other)

3. Do you use social media daily? (Yes/ No)

4. Is social media your first point of communication (Yes/ No )

5. Do you think social media has had a positive impact on society? (Yes/ No)

I posted the survey on Facebook in order to get as many responses as possible. 15 people completed the survey. Facebook was (unsurprisingly) the most popular social networking site, and social media was mainly used for communication. 90% of people used social media daily, but it was not their first point of communication. Surprisingly, over 70% of people who participated thought that social media had impacted negatively on society.

The lecture also discussed the differences of web 1.0 and web 2.0. Web 1.0 had a limited interaction between the site and web user, whereas web 2.0 allowed the users to network more liberally with each other, and allows them to modify already existing web content. Web 3.0 can be defined as anything, as people do not yet know what it will become. Some believe that it will become part of the human body, like the micro-chip that was discussed in week 3, or that computers that have the ability to interpret information on the same scale as humans, but no one will really know until it happens. 

Cyberspace and Cyberpunks

This week’s tutorial and lecture were based on the concept of ‘Cyberspace’ and ‘Cyberpunks’. Although many people are not happy with it, Cyberspace has become an increasingly important part of everyday life. In today’s society, almost everything is technological. Computers are used in most jobs and Internet is classified as a necessity. Many people are addicted to social media applications such as Facebook, twitter and instagram, and are constantly on their mobile phones. This electronic empire has taken over many parts of everyday life, even influencing its own creative genre, ‘Cyberpunk’. Cyber punk is a ‘genre of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technology.’ It has increased with popularity over the years, and many successful films and books are based in this genre.

The Internet is constantly improving on itself, allowing people to use it to do more and more things. Online shopping, online banking, informational websites and constantly updated news are just some of the things cyberspace allows us to do at the click of a button. Many people even live a ‘second life’ through cyberspace, allowing them to be the people who they want to be, in worlds that in reality are out of reach. In these times it is important to be aware of where the cyberspace ends and the real world begins. 

computers and the internet

This week the reading was an article called ‘Mind Control and the Internet’, written by Sue Halpern. The article discusses the future of technology in the form of ‘biochips’. ‘Biochips’ are a microchip computer that is inserted into a persons brain, so that whatever information is desired would be searched on the internet and immediately be available in your brain. Despite many people being doubtful, this technology is defiantly possible in the near future, as more and more discoveries are being made and everything is constantly being improved on. In my opinion these ‘biochips’ are not needed in the world, and despite the amount of work put into them, are a form of laziness as people cannot be bothered to learn or do things themselves. This being said, if they were to develop this technology, it could be useful in helping people with paralyzing illnesses communicate, and I believe that that is an important aspect, but it should not be available for people who are fully capable of doing or learning things without the help of these devices. A main point of technology is to make humans lives easier, but in reality it is just making people lethargic in all activities. In my opinion, the people who are designing items like this could be putting their minds to better use, solving problems that actually need to be solved, rather than making this to help people that cant be bothered to help themselves.

The lecture spoke about the development of computers over the past few decades. It was interesting to find out that in the 1950s the worlds needs were met with just six computers, and that an electronic card that sings happy birthday has more computer power than the earth did in the 1950s. Since the basics of technology were developed in the form of computers, advances in the field have come quickly. It seems almost impossible that the massive block cell phone of the late 80’s and early 90’s has turned into such a thing as an iPhone. It is quite funny that despite all the advances made, we do not have majority of the things television shows and movies of the past envisioned to the world. No one knows what the next decade holds in regards to computers and technology, but when we look back I am sure we will wonder how we every lived without it.

Halpern, S 2011, Mind Control & the Internet, viewed 3 August 2013,  https://bblearn.griffith.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FcontentWrapper.jsp%3Fcontent_id%3D_530301_1%26displayName%3DLinked%2BFile%26course_id%3D_18082_1%26navItem%3Dcontent%26attachment%3Dtrue%26href%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.nybooks.com%252Farticles%252Farchives%252F2011%252Fjun%252F23%252Fmind-control-and-internet%252F>

Swalwell, M 2012, Question about the usefulness of Microcomputers in 1980s Australia, viewed 4 August 2013, https://bblearn.griffith.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-502011-dt-content-rid-896290_1/courses/1501HUM_3135/Swalwell%2080s%20Oz%20Computers.pdf

Stockwell, S 2013, ‘Week 3 – Computers and the Internet', Retrieved from Griffith University, School of Humanities, Learning@Griffith Website: <www.griffith.edu.au>