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.