Reflections on what we have learnt in this unit

At the beginning of the year when I chose to take the module digital cultures, I was a little oblivious to how it would all unravel and how my understanding would develop further. I was aware of numerous digital devices and the impact they have on society, but anything more in depth would be new to me! Throughout my first year of the module I have learnt where the web originated from as well as how we rely on it significantly. Different elements of digital cultures have allowed me to realise numerous facts, such as the astonishing figures relating to cyber stalking, the pros and cons of the internet and the former stereotypes that are produced from its usage.
 

The unit itself has been interesting and highlighted numerous facts I was unaware of, it additionally has made me reflect upon my usage of the internet and how much I do rely on it. Before the module began, I didn’t really know the statistics that came with cyber stalking. I knew what the event was and how much it affected those targeted, but what is officially considered cyber stalking was a new piece of information delivered to me.

Even though we covered a large amount of topics relating to digital cultures, as progressing through the module it became clear that the topic is so huge it would be impossible to cover it in one year. With this in mind, I took it upon myself to further develop my understanding and do some back ground research. For each Blog post I created, I took time to reflect upon my notes made in the lecture as well as doing additional research online and through books. This further allowed me to be fully aware of what points I was deliberating upon and expanded my knowledge further.

Overall I feel I have learnt a great deal in this module and it has more importantly allowed me to look at the digital world in a different light. Even though the internet is amazing and a great invention, I have recently learnt that it does in fact have many flaws! Subconsciously, I find my self reflecting upon my time used on the internet as well interacting with digital devices and now my module is over, I’m going to attempt to cut down my usage!!

Identifying and discussing a substantial issue created by digital cultures, not discussed recently

Digital cultures generates a variety of benefits for society, it allows us to expand our knowledge, communicate with others worldwide and creates a sense of protection due to all our online actions being tracked. Whilst creating benefits for society, there is no surprise that the digital world also leaves us with a variety of issues.

In my former posts I discussed the idea of cyber stalking and cyber warfare, both huge issues produced from the digital cultures around us. In addition to these issues, when reading back through my posts, another problem came to my attention. Regardless of how much we benefit from the digital world, the main issue that was highlighted for me was how technology is in fact ruining our basic social skills.

The statement may seem a little far fetched and dramatic, but if you analyse the amount of technology used, it is in fact true. Originally, social skills were people’s main priorities and engaging in conversation with people was part of everyday life. Essentially, the digital world has taken over and our social skills have been deducted.

The majority of children own technical devices and communicate via those as opposed to general conversation. This reduces the amount of manners people tend to have, as well as an understanding of someone’s genuine emotions. There is often a sense of competition with regards to owning the newest, most extravagant piece of technology. This furthermore expands upon my point being that social skills are often neglected when over powered by technology. In addition, this further compels the theory of digital and social divides discussed in my prior posts. The social divides cause the exposure of neglect the younger society have on basic conversational skills. The older generation are genuinely separated from the majority of technology, enhancing their social skills and also allowing them to be a lot better in comparison to younger ones.

I think this issue is very important when discussing the digital technology in society today. The impact it has on social skills and basic manners is in fact astonishing. Interacting with people physically is avoided when communicating via text messages, you are unable to see someone’s true emotions and people social skills are greatly derelict.

Identifying a digital culture on which you have changed your mind on during this course

Throughout the module of digital cultures, it was in my best interest to cover a variety of issues relating to the digital world and how it has a great affect on our lives. Now I have completed  a great deal of research, I have taken some time to analyse the points I made previously and comment on how I have in fact significantly changed my mind in comparison to my initial response.
 

The digital world itself appears to be fascinating and you could scrutinize different responses continuously and still not get bored for a long period of time. In my personal opinion, the most significant response that shocked me hugely was the influence the internet has on the majority of our lives in general. It came to my attention that when commenting on the structure of Web 2.0 and the different aspects of tagging, that without realising we will connect with the internet various times daily. Connecting to the internet doesn’t necessarily mean sitting at home on a laptop or computer and searching various ideas, but we connect to the internet using mobile phones, going through security and walking down the street through CCTV. While I found this astonishing, I did in fact, find how much we rely on the internet more concerning. Whilst commenting on usage of the internet, I realised that we often create searches we have done before, or searches for answers we deep down already know.

This reliance on the internet is unhealthy and avoids us using our basic knowledge to answer questions or queries we have. I will openly admit that I often search things I have previously searched and do too adapt a sense of laziness and search something that I will most probably already know. As a country this reflects our personalities a great deal, the use of the internet is portraying us to be a lazy nation. The majority of people have easy access to the internet and with this in mind it becomes the easiest option to quickly search something, instead of tracking back in our minds and working it out.

This concept came as a surprise to me, I was unaware of how we really did rely on the internet and the statistics of how much it is used daily came as a shock. Even though I am a culprit for using the internet when I don’t necessarily need to, when analysing usage I still was left shocked. To conclude, after a lot of in depth research on this point, I have significantly changed my opinion on relying on the internet compared to my naïve and oblivious approach to begin with.

Cyber Warfare

Cyber warfare was originally defined by professional Richard Clarke as “actions by a nation-state to penetrate another nation’s computers or networks for the purpose of causing damage or disruption.” Technology is important around us; their destruction is ultimately considered warfare.
 

The world we live in is known to be a world of mass global threats.

“Squishy Part”

The impact the internet genuinely has on the world around us is noticeably significant. The internet influences our daily life and the majority of people have some sort of interaction with it everyday. An important statement that often is created when discussing interactions with the internet is that just because we have the devices allowing us to embrace technology at current, it does not necessarily mean we will always have them.

Many things can happen to stop the internet, authorities and governments have power to shut devices down. An example of this action taking place was when establishments in Egypt shut down the internet, refusing access to everyone in the country. I mentioned this situation in my previous post; additionally it reinforces the issues that regardless of how popular the internet is, it seems there still is power that can stop it.

In modern times battlefields tend to use digital devices whilst fighting the opposition, before we know it humans will not be needed there. With this in mind, it is rightly questioned that, does this even make it a battlefield? The original image of a battlefield is soon to be abolished and will formally be replaced with the idea of the hacking of digital devices to fight against the resistance.

“Operation Orchard”

Cyber warfare can lead to kinetic warfare and further examples of this took place on September the 6^th in 2009. The Israeli air force’s jet attacked and destroyed a Syrian nuclear facility. No personal attack was actually made on the event and it didn’t turn into a battlefield. Technology controlled the situation and the victims were attacked through a hacking situation. The event was a strong act of warfare.

After researching into acts of warfare, it seems the more digitally enhanced the country, the more prone the country is to different digital attacks. The country becomes more vulnerable and fragile due to their interactions with different digital devices. Individual attacks on different countries does not require much confidence, but purely just an in depth knowledge on the devices. Countries with more international bandwidth require more protection as they are in great danger of digital warfare attacks. It is now national policy to develop offensive warfare systems to protect different countries.

“The Wire”

It seems to be that everything connected to the internet is prone to continuous problems, so therefore why are the majority of devices connected to the internet? People tend to assume that the technology is a great thing, but through my post I hope I have highlighted different aspects that emphasise that this isn’t always the case. I do not believe we should get rid of technology at all, in fact far from it, but I do believe we need an adequate and sophisticated response to warfare issues.

Globalization, technicity and the digital divide (s)

Globalisation can simply be defined as the change we have seen in our lives on a much larger scale. It focuses primarily on changes that happen worldwide and explores the content of trade, so the goods and services and additionally the interlocking of different ownerships. Online websites tend to support the development of globalisation and through this specific Blog post I intend to focus on this aspect and expand further how the use of technology is increasing globalisation worldwide.
 
CALL ME, TEXT ME

The following figure may seem impossible, but it statistically has recently been proved that 130% of people in the UK own phones. The fact suggests that many people living in the UK own either 2 or more phones, whether this means they are simply just activated, or in use everyday, they still add towards the astonishing figure highlighted previously. This may seem hard to get your head around, but it further highlights how we rely on technology everyday and how this can influence and add to the globalisation taking place worldwide.

At current, worldwide, we are present with a situation referred to as the “digital divide”. When localising this situation, there is a constant reference to the development and usage of the web.  In the society we live in, the majority of interactions take place online and the divide began when some people found it harder to interact with the web than others. It is important to comprehend that when making changes in society, we have to be careful we do not block people out. It came to my attention when analysing my personal use of the internet, that for the older generation this interaction is a lot more difficult and a little daunting. For me, using the web is part of my every day life, I don’t particularly find it difficult and I rely on it significantly, but for my Grandparents it appears to be a completely different story!

With the digital divide taking place worldwide, this also causes a social divide between those who access technology and those that don’t. These divides all simply began after the rapid development of technology and overall can affect the majority of people all over the world. In families a further diversion often occurs when there is someone in the family that is technically illiterate, this social divide in houses has often been the cause of a social divides outside of the home and further. After evaluating the different diversions that have occurred through technology it seems you can not ignore the interconnectedness.

The main concern people tend to have when refereeing to the use of technology and the digital divide focuses on the question asking “what happens when there is no technology?” It seems unimaginable and like the situation would never occur, but what would happen if there wasn’t any technology in our lives? A democratic divide took place in Egypt when authorities cut all of Egypt’s internet connection, the mass protest resulted in the whole country being unable to access ANYTHING online. This itself became a crisis and reinforced the idea that the internet produces its own problems and that we rely on it way too much.

Thinking about the relationship I have with the internet and different examples of technology, I know my life would change dramatically if I was unable to access the internet or use technical devices. I would for example, be unable to create this Blog post and further complete my degree! It seems, that for a student aged 18 years old, I can openly admit I rely on the use of technology far too much and do not have a clue what I would actually do without it! (Quite pathetic I know)

Digital Games and Players (Game Studies)

Gaming most certainly isn’t a new hobby; playing games can originate as far back as the Egyptians when they played Senet. According to Wikipedia, “Senet is a board game from predynastic and ancient Egypt.” The invention, as well as population of video games has grown dramatically over the past few years. It is now almost certain that everyone you come across has had some sort of interaction with a video game at some point in their life. To define a game, it doesn’t necessarily have to conform to the stereotypical image of an online video game played by “nerds” or “geeks”.  According to a variety of statistics, many of us would have played games throughout our life. Further in this blog post I will explain the conventions of a video game as well as expanding on the concept of the magic circle.

“As the game goes on, the game gets harder”

It seems obvious now, but before the theory of making the gaming components harder as the time span develops on a game wasn’t well known to many people. This furthermore, allows the principle of cheats to arise and take place in many games. Questions are often asked about what is considered cheating on a video game; some may regard modifying the actual game as cheating, where as others would consider this just enhancing their ability to play. Mia Consalvo produced a lot of research revolving around this idea and additionally compared it to “transgressive behaviour”. People creating technological devices to enhance their game play and to give themselves an advantage is formally known as transgressive behaviour.

Video games represent space, so obviously we expect the space to be coherent. However, there are certain characteristics that video games can not actually conform to. For example, on some games you reach stages where there are invisible walls or the end of a road with nothing in sight further. These images are not real life; so many people formally question why they are allowed to be represented on games. These design systems are often considered cheap and aren’t favoured by many professionals. With this in mind, it leaves me in the position to agree with those who consider false images presented online or on games to be wrong. I personally do not think any images should be created or shown online; it eventually leads to a misrepresentation and can ultimately cause many problems.

My last point focuses on the magic circle of gaming. In life we are used to playing games. In the society we live in we have been brought up to understand wining is good and losing is at the end of the day bad. We are always encouraged to win, regardless of how difficult the situation is. The magic circle is a representation of real life and how gaming affects us. Whether you do not consider yourself a keen video game player, there still is no doubt about it, which you formally would have played some sort of game.

Video Games

After a lot of in depth research it seems that the first video game we can track goes as far back as to the 1950’s. This first and foremost highlights the obvious point that video games have been prominent in our lives for literally years, and as technology continues to develop, it will most probably remain this way forever.

There continues to be a stereotypical image and definition relating to someone that plays video games appears to be immensely unsociable. Whilst analysing this definition further, I came to the conclusion that this is in fact far from the truth. Those that play video games continuously are in fact the opposite and are quite sociable as they appear to be engaging in conversation with those they are playing against or even their online game player character. Statistics have recently shown that video games, in total appear to appeal to a huge age bracket of people, with noticeably the youngest player being 6 years old and on average the oldest appearing to be 86 years of age. This on its own proves that the population of video games is outstanding and ever increasing. The statistic not only shocked me hugely, but also made me realise that video games do not stereotypically just include playing football related or violent games on a play stations or Xboxs, but can also include bowling or tennis games on the Wii – a criteria that strongly appeals to the older generation of people.

“Video skills turn you into morons”

There is no arguing that through time we most probably have all heard the statement indicated above, however it has been proved over and over again that video games – regardless of their content, do not physically harm you. Video games interestingly do not sit outside of cultures and remain popular to a wide variety of people, not just the original stereotypes. The main stereotypes that appears alongside video games is that they are unhealthy, only played by men and all games have a violent nature. After my wide range of research and much deliberation in my lectures we found that this is not necessarily the case and near enough my whole glass – mixed gender, have at some point played a video game and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Aesthetics of digital literature and digital arts

Digital arts and the aesthetics of digital literature have a significant impact on technology in today’s society. Technology and art often coincide with each other to form different programmes. This idea isn’t necessarily a new formation, it has been suggested that the collaboration originated from when the Da Vinci Code presented an image of a tank in an artistic form. In modern times, the examples include software programmes such as Cannon 7D and Photoshop.

 

There are also technical devices that deliver art; the recent examples of this production include the popular iPads, Kindles or Sony Readers. These all allow you to connect with artistic manners on a technical piece of equipment, such as books. You can read a whole book on a section of technology. This is a prime example of the partnership of technology and art, developing over time.

Further examples of the different collaborations include the development of communication abilities. The early stages of communication were satellite arts, these allowed people to engage with each other world wide. Examples of current communication methods include the popular computer software programme Skype. As you can see, there is a clear pattern forming with the further development of programmes. It has become clear that digital arts originated long before all of our times, but is the main focus of change through the development of technology.

A more diverse situation that arises from the discussion regarding digital arts and the aesthetics of digital literature includes cosmetic surgery. It has been implied that the body is a site for art and the alterations that can take place on this “site” include cosmetic surgery enhancements. This furthermore emphasises the point that in the majority of situations there will in turn be a collaboration of art and technology.

The internet itself allows us to look at texts in different ways; we can directly observe the relationship between technology and art and formally see how it is structured. The beginning of the development arose when literature became closer to art then allowing art to come closer to performance. These all coincide with each other and create the World Wide Web!

To conclude, I will present you with an example that shows the interrelationship of both technology and art. It may seem simple, but the object of a glow in the dark animal, in this case rabbit, is a prime example. What you will see is a form of art, it is both aesthetically pleasing and creative, but it is also a piece of technology.

The Impact Of Cyberstalking with Emma Short

During our last lecture we had speaker Emma Short in to talk to us about the impact of cyber stalking. The lecture was both eye opening and quite scary; during this Blog post I will explain and develop the points Emma made. I also will use the statistics Emma gave us to inform readers on the large number of myths that originate from cyber stalking and will attempt to put the rumours behind us all!

“Stalking behaviour” is a form of unwanted intrusions to such an extent that the recipient fears for their safety. These actions could be both online, through persistent behaviour such as continuous emails or comments or the original form of stalking, actions in person. Ultimately, Cyber stalkers are obsessive and show this through their actions. Online cyber stalking is an old problem through a new medium. Emma described stalking itself as an “old age problem” and further described the types of the attack as “identity theft and, or the posting of false profiles”. It became clear through the detailed analysis of a stalker and their behaviour that you do not have to have direct contact; the events merely could just be threats. Similarly, the transferring of an attack to the victim’s relatives or provoking others to attack the victims can both be considered further stalkish behaviour.  

A common example of cyber bullying occurs daily on the social network site Facebook. Through studies on this specific form of abuse, answers indicated that people tend to feel “anonymous” and “confident” behind the computer screen. Regardless, of the fact they can still be traced and identified. It is commonly known that is today’s society people tend to miss represent themselves online, Emma further explained that it is easily done for those with a naïve outset. 58% of people have been contacted by people who claim they are of a different identity, but it is in fact the same person.

Rumours are often spread about stalkers and how to deal with their obsessive behaviour. Emma took time to identify to us what common comments and answers are in fact myths. It is directly a myth that cyber stalking affects only a small age group, it has been statistically proven that it affects between 14 and 64 year olds! After strongly emphasising on this point, it became clear to me that it is over an extremely large age group and can not be avoided nor should it be ignored by those of a professional service (I.e. the police).  It also is a myth that you can not catch cyber stalkers, through the power of the internet; we are able to identity who is delivering the information. Again, the common myth is that if you confront a stalker, they will ultimately stop. There is no evidence to suggest this is true, if anything it could encourage their behaviour.

The most important rumour that is often spread regarding the impact of cyber stalking is that there “isn’t a significant impact of the victim from cyber stalking.” This couldn’t be more untrue if it formally tried!! The impact cyber stalking has on females is just the same as males. The abuse is cross gender. Genders ultimately fear different things; it is commonly known that women fear physical injury more than men, but both are directly harmed through the actions of a stalker.

The impact cyber stalking has on the victim noticeably is colossal. People are known to suffer from the post-traumatic stress disorder after unloading the abuse directly. Emma suggested that similarly the treatment for one that has suffered from cyber stalking is minimal. Victims often show a case of hyper active behaviour as well as most commonly an emotional shut down. With all these illness affecting someone, there is chance that suicide could be an option for the victim who has been affected directly, continuously over a long period of time. 50% of people who have been cyber stalked catastrophically fit the suicide category.

The statistics and information delivered from Emma regarding the impact and actions proceeded through cyber stalking are both shocking and outrageous. It seems unbelievable that such a despicable event occurs prominently in every day life, with no means to an end. Cyber stalking is very much influenced through the popularity of the internet, so for the future, minimising cyber stalking seems virtually impossible. As technology grows, it seems so will cyber stalking.

Metadata, Tagging and Folksonomies

Without realising, the majority of our time on the Internet is spent tagging. With this in mind, to begin with it is important to distinguish the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web (the www in the html address’ of different sites) supports a very distributed way of thinking about the world. The web itself isn’t specifically structured; it is merely just the collaboration of everyone’s individual searches.  When constructing a search on sites such as Google, the answers Google consider the most relevant appear at the top, but our searches are all personalised from our IP address. This is furthermore an example of tagging, the sites recognise our previous history and determine the extended answer around this. The small actions completed by us throughout our internet usage calculates our future answers.

According to Tech Terms.com, “Metadata describes other data. It provides information about a certain items content.” Further “Web pages often include metadata in the form of meta tags. Description and keywords meta tags are commonly used to describe the web pages content.” Metadata is a form of tagging and searching; metadata is technically the specific data that describes other forms of data. It is in fact possible to view the metadata for every site on the web. An example of this is indicated below.....

Ultimately, we do not control our personal tagging. The majority of tags that take place we are generally oblivious to, or unaware of. Tagging can occur, as a former way of organising your blog posts, another example that appears to be present in our lives, is human tagging on Facebook or Twitter. Like metadata, the tags allow the user to add various links. We can tag through both videos and photos as a form of human tagging; additionally we can also tag through additional searches. These explorations can occur on twitter, an example of this is the search of a trending topic through the use of a hash tag (#). It is also possible to invent a tag to suit the agenda of your tweet, this is formally creating your own search through the use of metadata. The photo below is an example of me creating a trend that has not appeared on Twitter before..... 

There are, like many different aspects in life, pros and cons for the use of tagging on the Internet. The pros mainly include our ability to understand our knowledge further. It additionally allows us to track where we are by the use of individuals tagging. Of course, the use of knowing where someone is can also count as a disadvantage to the use of tagging. Someone’s privacy is exposed and it could furthermore cause a threat on the specific individual. 

A Labour of Love?: Open Source Movement

In our lecture we discussed the concept of the Open Source Movement. It came to my attention that this impression mainly revolves around the composed movements on the world-wide web. It is clear that the Open Source movement is a dynamic and fundamental part of the software scene in the world at current. Hundreds of thousands of programmes world wide support the Open Source device informally, by participating in the maintenance and updating their software. More formally, “the movement has come to be spearheaded by an organisation named the Open Source Inititative, a nonprofit association based in California that owns the trade mark ‘Open Source’” (http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~l38613dw/readings/OpenSourceOverview.html). The Open Source movement is still very much a new concept, but as discussed in my lecture it holds a great deal of potential for the future development of a variety of software’s.  

The most known example of software originating from the Open Source movement is Linux, the “computer operating system assembled by the model of free and open source software development and distribution” (Wikipedia definition).

The video embedded below shows both a clear definition of what open source movement is and examples that could possibly lead from it.......



The first copyright law was passed on the 10^th April 1710, with the Queen Anne Statue. It passed almost immediately, and the purpose of this was to protect the work of authors. The statue itself was the origin of all modern copyright laws. For the United States of America, the first official copyright legalisation was passed on the 25^th May 1790, much after English laws. A discussion made prominent in our lecture was that, although Benjamin Franklin was rumoured to have started the idea of copyright, it was in fact present in the UK before then.

We may all be aware of what copyright is, but in general our understanding of what copy left is, is quite uneducated. According to a simplified definition on Wikipedia “Copyright is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work. In other words, copy left is a general method for making a program (or other work) free (libre)”. I thought that it would useful to discuss the development of copy left, over and above referring to the laws revolving around copyright in this direct post. Copyleft type licenses are a novel use of existing copyright law to ensure a work remains freely available.

To conclude, I want to refer back to my initial point about Open Source Technology and highlight how we all directly interact with it on a daily basis. Examples of these relations include; logging into BREO to check our timetables at University or simply logging into sites such as Facebook or Twitter. The interaction we have with Open Source Movement is prominent in our life, and through development of technology, it is only going to increase further. Having a clear understanding of what these various forms of technology are, will furthermore enable our knowledge to expand on different examples in the future. This knowledge reduces how oblivious we also are, to the former background of technology.

Privacy, Surveillance, Everyware & Ubiquitous Computing

The impact technology has on our everyday lives in considerably significant. If you were to picture the influence technology has in our homes, the impact it has would come as a surprise. The majority of things we touch everyday are the product of technological invention. Where I am, sitting at my laptop, various forms of technology are at hands reach. My phone, my tv, my tv remote and additionally my iPad. Furthermore, we are living in a society which is highly technologised. In urban spaces, we are connected with devices of technology that we probably are unaware of. Devices such a CCTV is a devise which allows our movements to be monitored and avoids the general aspect of privacy and is further a constructed piece of technology.

CCTV cameras ability to recognise faces and identity exactly who it is causes a lot of conspiracy. Although the devices are merely just conforming to the roles of technology, many people raise the issue of weather you should be entitled to an element of privacy when walking down the street. This issue, however can be looked at in two lights, when it come to issue such as terrorism the ability to recognise someone’s face through the means of CCTV is considered quite obviously extremely necessary.

The idea that you are “free” to search the internet and explore many different sites is something that the majority of people believe is the case. However, through different studies and a clear distinction of our ability to search the internet, it allows me to understand that this is in fact not the case. Our freedom to search is restricted through devices such as “parental control” and googles ability to recognise a computers IP address allowing the site to personalise the answers to your specific search. So, in many cases two people would more than likely receive different search results, even though they searched the same query.  This reinforces the answer that the internet isn’t a huge free space; we are in fact, just like walking down the street, restricted and unable to have an element of privacy. Everything done on the internet is recorded and it would always be possible to track searches back.

Parental control is a structured organisation from many search engines allowing parents to control their children’s use on the internet, this furthermore reinforces the ideology that our searches are always monitored allowing us to additionally have no privacy. However, it has been proved that these devices are insignificant because they can be hacked.

Everyday, for the majority of our days, we will interact with a computer device without even realising. This supports the idea that the use of technology is current in our lives and this furthermore will remain the case/if not get increasingly get worse for the rest of our lives. It is virtually impossible to not interact with a computer through a day, interactions include your phones automatically connecting to local wi-f zones, going through electric doors, using phones, watching television… The list is endless. Subconsciously, these ideas are automatically linked to the limited privacy in our lives. Using an oyster card is an example of a computer device, but it also tracks your movement, limiting ones privacy.

No technology is safe in our lives, they can all be hacked and altered. It is impossible to switch directly off a device, you affectively would always be able to track its movements regardless of weather its power is turnt to standby.

Recently a development which allows an interaction between emotions and technology has been invented for iPhone users. “Sirii”, the new device constructed by apple allowing users to interact with their mobile device asking specific questions receiving answers specific to their needs. This interaction further emphasises a devices ability to communicate with a human and engage with emotions.

Issues of Autonomy & Intelligence: Robots & AI

Human beings are known to have a sense of self, this being the main difference between humans and machines. In today’s society it is possible for us to form and explore our identities online, by doing so we can also fight with or against AI (Artificial Intelligence) characters. Similarly, as a generation it is also possible to form a variety of identities online, such are formed through Facebook, Twitter and other online sites. The presentations of ones self could be constructed to be different in comparison to our live twitter feed; it remains possible for you to build and form different personalities online.

The invention of “chatterbots” has ultimately had a real impact on the development of technology through time. A chatterbot “is a computer program designed to simulate an intelligent conversation with one of more human users via auditory or textual methods.” (Wikipedia), most will remember the interaction of “Smarterchild” on the social networking messenger software MSN. There are many other examples of chatterbots such as “Eliza” and “A.L.I.C.E”, these formally all construct and deliver the same message.

A specific problem that has become noticeable through the development of technology is that as humans we affectively are becoming cyborgs. Instead of rationally thinking, we are using Google and other search engines. The majority of searches done daily, or weekly, ultimately we have more than likely done before. With this in mind, if we were to take a moment to think, we wouldn’t have to use the internet and our questions could be answered.

How does digital computing and cyberspace blur the boundaries between what we perceive to be human or machine? ….. A difficult question with a variety of answers, it may seem far fetched and slightly exaggerated, but it is noticeable that the boundaries are significantly blurred in comparison to years before. With relation to the development of chatterbots, this boundary is becoming blurred to a level where it would be possible to be unable to distinguish the difference between a human and a machine. The machines ability to construct a conversation with a human allows this distinction to become difficult, if not impossible. With this in mind though, surly there are some human qualities, in addition to basic conversation making, that machines will never be able to replicate. A human’s basic ability to think is an action I believe a machine can not complete, however this doesn’t affectively rule out the chances of it happening in the future.

This leads me onto my final point for this blog post which is the complex definition of a robot. One of many rhetorical questions which occurs almost instantly is Can you even define a robot? The invention of robots is increasing along side technologies development, so a simple definition of this product to society is virtually impossible. Overall, a robot is ultimately something that is pragmatic. A robot could be described and defined as an unmanned fighting platform for services in the army, this device could furthermore outfight humans. Generally they can have many different functions and capabilities. This proves my initial point that the definition of a robot is difficult, due it conforming to many different roles in society not just one. There is no denying the fact that robots are very much present in our lives, and without them we would not have as many functioning mechanisms as we do now.

Intellectual Property, Creative Commons and DRM

Copyright itself is a huge principle known publically worldwide. To begin it is important to distinguish the difference between theft and copyright. Ultimately, when following the actions of copyright you are not stealing, you are simply preceding copyright. According to Wikipedia, “Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time”.

As a student it is important I understand the concept of plagiarism. In addition, to avoid committing an act of plagiarism, you should, at all costs avoid taking something without attribution.

The video below identifies this concept and explains it further…

Furthermore, copying music without legal permission from sites on the World Wide Web is incredibly easy to do and the popularity is furthermore increasing. From a professional point of view, this action could’ve seen as illegal and an example of copyright. Downloading music to phones, iPod’s or furthermore CD’s is current and an action which most people complete weekly or even worse daily. There is a lot of conspiracy regarding the concept of downloading illegal music, but yet there are still hundreds of sites with sources making the action possible. 

Simple websites such as “youtube to mp3” allow you to download a clip from YouTube and play via programs such as iTunes. By downloading music this way, ultimately you are avoiding the cost the original sites ask from you. Downloading, weather it is music, games or videos is a fantastic cultural asset. There is no denying the fact that there is serious harm to the music industry due to people not paying for their specific downloads. 

Many arguments are currently presented to professionals justifying the reasons that lie within downloading files, such as music, illegally. The professional music industry are seen to charge an extortionate amount of money for their files, so for this instinct it doesn’t leave me surprised that people would prefer to download for free! It simply is human nature to do the cheaper option, but this furthermore isn’t always the morally correct one. This argument is never ending, I think it would be fair to say you can not ideally avoid downloading through an act of “copyright” if the sites are still available to you. If all sites were banished, and everyone was encouraged to download the professional way, I’m sure this would be in everyone’s best interest.  

Additionally, I have a further example of a copyright situation which will in turn, tug on your heart strings. Through my studies I have further learnt that doing everything the “legal” and “copyright free” way is a lot easier than I initially anticipated. This further story emphasises this point and makes me personally realise how far fetched and how extreme the world is unfortunately getting. In America, a family (unidentifiable) lost their child a young age. As a result of this they further put a photographic image of Disney’s Winnie the Pooh character on their child’s grave stone. Additionally, Disney took it upon them to sue this family as a result of preceding an act of “copyright”. According to Disney, the family failed to ask for permission to use the image of their character and as a result took part in a case of copyright and should ultimately be sued. Of course, once taken to court, Disney backed down. But still… Winnie the Pooh has been present in our lives for over 100 years and as a result of this there are many questions as to weather because of it being in the public domain, should Winnie the Pooh even be owned by Disney? 

To conclude, the issue of copyright is ever present and difficult to distinguish specifically. Actions such as plagiarism should be noted upon and individuals should be punished, but a thing such as music downloads or the use of company’s images remains difficult to decide upon. Personally, I think it all depends on the specific situation at the time and the use of the file or image in the long run.

Community, Particpation and Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is simply a collaboration on the World Wide Web. An example of a web 2.0 site includes one where users can interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user generated content in a visual community. The concept of web 2.0, according to http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html, “initially began with a conference brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive international”.

Examples of web 2.0 include social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Myspace, Blog sites such as the one presenting this current information on, Wikis and video sharing sites such as Youtube.  

These sites all encourage an interaction between the user and the website itself. For example the social networking site Myspace allows us to understand that we do in fact make the content, we deliver all of the information to our readers and can structure this in anyway our own personal way. Web 2.0 gives us all an opportunity to be part of the web domain.

There has been a vast amount of disparity regarding the whole development of web 2.0 and according to Hinchcliff 2006 “Web 2.0 is a term you love to hate or hate to love”. Either way, the concept doesn’t appeal to everyone. With the ever growing development of web 2.0, as a generation we tend to feel compelled to use our phones more so than ever. Phones in today’s society allow us to interact furthermore with the different examples of web 2.0; such as the social networking sites as previously mentioned. The app culture furthermore develops this point and allows us to cooperate with the social networking sites if we are away from a computer at that present time. All working together to allow us to constantly “update” our social statuses.

It is important to understand that the invention of web 2.0 and the invention of the World Wide Web are two completely different things. Tim Barnes Lee first invented the World Wide Web, but again this doesn’t necessarily mean it is the first interaction we had with the internet. Before Lee’s invention, we had “Muds and Mo’s” a more complex version of source involving the internet, the original.

When referring to the internet and its development, it seems impossible to ignore the site Youtube. The site which holds millions of videos of virtually anything and everything remains, as we speak, popular world wide. The recognisable face of Justin Beiber first started his career on Youtube, as bizarre as it seems Justin Beiber is as popular as currently is, due to his interaction with a web 2.0 site. Beiber first began by recording himself signing and posting the videos onto Youtube, later he was recognised and signed by a record deal. And look at him now, a worldwide pop artist who not only records albums, but also has a film and many books. The two videos below show the difference between when Just Beiber first started his career and where he is now. This ultimately concludes my point that Youtube can specifically be used to crate a career, it is not as if it hasn’t happened before…

To conclude my post, I think it is important to note that to many the conspiracy around web 2.0 remains fascinating and never ending. As a culture we rely on the internet in our everyday life. We have an in depth relationship with mobile web and before we know it devices will eventually be able to do exotic things regarding our location. Communications often take place through the web and what you’re reading now is a prime example of this… I’m communicating a message to you through a blog website, an example of a web 2.0. My message is being delivered to you through the internet, and without web 2.0 we would not be able to do this.