The topic that I think that is going dominate the eLandscape in the future is the, I want my iphone. Technology today is rapidly changing and increasing in its value and ability to be able to do things.
When looking at the phone technology section it became clear, that from what mobile phones use to be to and what they are now are dramatically different. So far they have been able to add cameras, video, internet, calculators and calendars to mobile phones, to make life easier for people. They have already shown to be able to make these little objects into great creations, and I think it’s only going to get more technological in the future.
One of the newest brands of mobile phones and one of the most popular brands is the Apple Iphone. By now if you haven’t heard of the iphone you must be out touch with reality!. The iphone can be said to be one of the biggest crazes at the moment, so many people have embraced this device and live by it, and you can see this by asking people what kind of phone they have and know doubt majority of people (especially young people) will say an iphone. And just recently with all that the iphone can offer, as in the internet, camera, and can be used as a MP3 player as well, it is finding new ways to offer more. Recently on the television one may have seen an add, where the iphone now can allow you to turn off your house lights if you forget to, when you leave the house!!
The ability for a phone to be able to do this insane!!!! Where is it all going to stop! Well personally I don’t think it’s ever going to stop! People are going to keep realising what is important to everyone and find ways to be able to incorporate it into these mobile devices for their convenience.
And although we are going to see many of the topics talked about in these blogs become a main focus in social media somewhere along the line, mobile phones are always going to keep getting better and better, as people seek for the best things in life, and if it can be some what given through a mobile phone, we are all going get involved in this kind of device and it is never going to stop evolving.
Online documentaries now can be seen through many websites. However the more popular ones we know about are YouTube and Google video. Online documentaries allow for anyone to make a video and document on something they are passionate about. Either it being their own life or news clips they have seen or even on war.
Because of the past failures of documentaries on the big screen, where box office numbers were to low to support major funding of the films (Vicente, 2008). The internet has now become a major source to view and promote wannabe filmmakers documentaries. As I stated before YouTube is a site where you can post video clips, these video clips roughly range to about 10 minutes and can also include tagging and involves a lot of virtual blogging, as Birchall, 2008 has stated you tube is initially embraced by the amateur end of the market, while Google video (another site where people can post videos) try to establish relationships with distributors and studios.
Because of lack of funding for documentaries people now have more range and variety to post their documentaries because they know they can do it them selves, even in their own home. The internet now as Birchall 2008 says is the most obvious and less inexpensive way to get noticed in this kind of industry and Vicente, 2008 says that there are three main benefits to online documentaries. Them being, a wider availability of the product, a valuable economic model for the rights owner, and complete control of the picture retained by the filmmaker/producer.
So why should one care about online documentaries? and what can it offer to us? Online documentaries not only offer a chance to be noticed but it allows for anyone’s voice to be heard. Either if it is because you have a political view on something and you want to voice your opinion on it, or if it just a documentary on your self. Either way by posting these videos online it has opened up a whole new sector to be able to get your voice out there and heard, no matter what you have to say. Because you are the filmmaker in what you produce it also allows for freedom of speech, in your segment or response to something one can allow to say pretty much what ever one would like. And if something was said that someone else does not like, they in response can make a documentary and on the disagreement of what you were saying.
The internet has allowed many people to make documentaries whether they are someone famous, an activist, someone who is inspiring to be famous, or someone who just wants to make one for the fun of it. Either way the internet can allow for everyone’s voice to be heard it, it now allows for people to be free to say what they want to say and how they want to say it, it is a way to get yourself out there with minimal cost and to enjoy your own production.
Some examples of online documentaries are as followed. These documentaries allow you to see the variety of what people can post how they do it. The first one is of a guy trying let people know about all the different kinds of food you can find in the world at sidewalk stalls.
And for something a bit different now, someone’s personal documentary on their gaming life..
As you can see now video documentary on the internet opens up many opportunities for people of all ages.
Mobile phone technology is quickly increasing, in not only its functions but the designs and the availability of them. When thinking of mobile phones I remember when I was a little girl and my Mum and Dad had these big heavy brick phones that had buttons where there was about three letters on each number key, and the phone had only a tiny thin strip display. These phones back then when they first came out only allowed for calling and in some cases messaging people.
When I look at the phones today in comparison it is very obvious of how far technology has advanced in 15 years. The phones today have bigger screens, screens that allow you to even visit a webpage and see it at a substantial size, in some cases the key buttons no longer have three letters to each key but now the buttons are set out like a computer keyboard, and even more some phones no longer have buttons!!!
Mobile phones are no longer used for just making phones calls and messaging but as Goggin (2006) puts forward, ‘The characterization of the mobile phone is as an all-in-one device that is potentially capable of displacing many other technologies (such as cameras, radios, music players and calculators)’. Because mobiles are so advanced today they are quickly becoming a significant object in many people’s lives and I know this and if you don’t know this all you have to do is look around. Pretty much every second person you see these days is carrying or is on their mobile phone and I am one of these people and I am sure you are too. At first when all these new technological devices started coming out I was like ‘o cool’ but I always said to my self ‘ I don’t need that’ it was just some gadget to appeal to a market to gain more profit. However over time I have even been sucked into these devices and am now one that uses all the little gadgets on my phone, including the internet, camera, video player, calculator and the calendar function.
Today in the 21st century it isn’t right to pose a question, ‘will mobile phone screen become the dominate screen?’ Because it is already a dominate screen. People these days can’t even leave the house without a phone in hand, and when looking at the public it is easy to see that more traditional things are quickly fading, like a normal calculator, a dairy, and even now a lot of people don’t even have a house phone because they have a mobile. These mobile phones are now not only a device but a way of life. The question we should be asking is why have these devices become a way of life? Is it because these tiny objects are more convenient to the everyday person? Is it because that’s the way the world is changing? That these things have to be used to be socially acceptable now?
Even though I am one of those people who live by there phone, like many of us do. I do not feel that all the new functions people are bringing to them are all necessary. The things you can do on a phone now may be brilliant but I feel that we as a community do not need it. To have another screen that plays videos, take photos, and to go on the internet, what does it leave us with really? In my opinion I feel that having this device in our hand and engaging in it all the time only leaves us to be somewhat rude and in a way disconnected with ‘real life’. Yes it may be convenient but now sometimes its even hard to talk to someone when they have their phone in their hand because they are more focussed on what they are doing on it.
Reading the article by Goggin (2006) and the website http://www.northeastmovies.co.uk/series/24/micro-movies-classic has only made me think more that we don’t need another device that allows us to do all these extra things. I have however accepted the fact that this is technology and it is advancing and this is how it is being shown but quite frankly if these little nick knacks, such as video, internet and camera were taken off mobile phones I don’t feel myself or the community would be worse off. We would just have to result to more traditional ways.
But as Goggin (2006) also said, ‘Whatever the real use and functions, the device is made out to be an inevitable appendage without which life is difficult’. And this statement only supports how much we all depend on mobile phones now, for what ever reason we do, and thus makes the question, ‘ are mobile phone screens going to become the dominant screen of the 21st century’ more evident that it has already happened.
Goggin, G. 2006 Cell Phone Culture: Mobile Technology in Everyday Life, Routledge, New York.
When discussing internet pornography, people can take it many different ways, because there are so many different aspects to internet pornography. So where does it all start? Well first off one of the most common pornography you can find on the internet starts with females. There are many websites out there dedicated to naked girls taking sexual photos and even videos of themselves, by themselves, or with someone else, either male or female. One can also find sites dedicated to male pornography or even child pornography. Im sure while browsing the internet every one has come across some sort of pornography site. Whether it be because you have visited one, or a pop up has occurred, or even that you have misspelled something in Google and it directed you to a porn site.
Porn on the internet can pretty much be seen any where these days, and pretty much any one can access it either if they are male, female or of underage (Ferree). Banks (2007) suggests that there are three types of pornography users and they are, recreational users, where they are unlikely to experience any adverse affects from the online experience and usually stumble across there first encounter by accident. The sexual compulsive type, where those who are of this category pursue alone activities at the risk of their jobs, relationships and social lives. And finally there are the risks users, risk users are the ones that use sexual online experiences because they are either depressed or stressed. Banks (2007) essay talks mainly about pornography access at public libraries, and states that over last few decades with increasing access to technology on average 14 million people spend hours in libraries everyday accessing the internet and among those 14 million people are individuals who spend up to 10 hours deeply immersed in online erotica.
Because online erotic is becoming increasingly more sort after and popular Ryan Singel offers the suggestion that internet porn is becoming worse than crack (A drug). And he continues to say that pornography addicts have a more difficult time recovering from their obsessions than cocaine addicts do. He also mentions that the internet has now become the perfect drug delivery system because no one knows who you are, you are aroused and can have this drugged pumped into you 24/7 .
But do we really have the right to call internet porn a drug? One may look at it as a simple hobby that they enjoy encountering in like say, a sport. Other may say it is defiantly a drug and that lethal one at that, and some may say it’s just a disgusting habit. Although some people like to turn a blind eye to internet porn it is something that we all have to take notice of, not only because it is out there and is happening but also for people’s safety. Quite recently we have seen a lot of media on the news about pedophiles, where they will take pictures of naked children and post them on the internet. When seeing this side of pornography how can one not believe that this a dangerous drug?
The realization of internet porn is that it is happening and it is all around us. Even as Banks (2007) says even with the best filters trying to block sites out there is never going to be a good enough filter to block it out completely. It is something that we all have to ask our selves, do we want internet porn to stop? Why do we want it to stop? And how are we going to stop it?
Banks, S. 2007 ‘Your Privacy’s Showing: Pornography at your Local Library’ in A. C. Hall and M. J. Bishop (Eds.) Pop-Porn: Pornography in American Culture, Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport
'Internet Porn: Worse than Crack?' by Ryan Singel 'Women and the Web: Cybersex Activity and Implications' by Marnie C. Ferree.
YouTube, what is YouTube? If you haven’t heard what YouTube is by now you are clearly hiding under a rock!!! YouTube is a website where anyone can post videos and pretty much on what ever they want! It is a website where anyone can watch these videos and comment about them. You can find videos on people singing, dancing or even video blogging there lives. But more importantly and more recently politicians have come to use YouTube as one of there strategies to campaign. Winograd and Hais, (2008) start off by telling us a little about how the internet has quickly become a popular way to campaign. They tell the story of how politicians first used sites such as facebook, to gain voters for their campaign, and after realising that majority of people use the internet rather than watch television or read the newspaper, politicians smartly worked out that the internet was a much more affective way to reach the public at a much lesser cost! And that instead or writing their stories on facebook that they could tell there stories on YouTube!
In fact Winograd and Hais describes that the political advantages to using YouTube as a way of campaigning is now virtual to the whole outcome. Not only does internet campaigners have a huge economical gain but it is found that majority of people, well a whopping 34 million people visit YouTube a month and a lot of them watching political campaigns. Winograd and Hais continue to say that the enormous advantage in the economics of campaigning via the net compared to television means that it is only a matter of time until candidates who devote most the energies and money to these new campaign tactics will gain the upper hand. Not only does the technology provide an economical way to reach voters it does so with messages that are actually watched and heard and if created properly believed.
However although politicians can find the internet useful for campaigning, what they have also found is it can do not so well for their image. Because YouTube can be accessed by and contributed by any one, many politicians like Obama have found that other politicians or other people in general make a mockery of there campaigns through this website either it by copying an ad they have created and editing it to make fun of it or someone posting something that has been said against another politician. For example you can find many videos on politicians that are made mockery of like this one.
Although YouTube has its downside with attacks against campaigns, it can also be used as an advantage. For example, Obama girl is said to have had an impact of the voting polls of the Obama election because as can be seen Obama girl is an attractive girl who sings and dances about Obama. And as is quoted in New Media by Paul Levinson that a lot of Obama’s voters were aged 30 and under, not surprising, when a saucy video clip about Obama is released targeted at that age group to watch.
YouTube and other internet sources can be a massive benefit to politicians on their campaigns because for one it allows for politicians to be noticed by the younger generation, as well as the older generation. Being able to watch interesting video clips of politicians makes younger people more intrigued to get involved. And being one of the younger generation; in experience having a choice to watch television politics or politics done in interesting ways via YouTube, I am more likely to watch YouTube then television.
Winograd, M. and Hais, M. D. 2008, Millenial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics, Rutgers University Press, Piscataway, pp 156-173
Produsage is not a word we continually come into contact with everyday. In fact until recently I didn’t even know this word existed! So what is a Produsage and why is this word becoming more known about?
Produsage is made up of three main elements. And Produsage is a combination of a user of technology and someone who produces information available on technology to release some content. Because of technological advances in the past decades many websites have surfaced that now allows for an everyday person to become a produser, websites which allow for this is YouTube, Wikipedia and even second life.
www.produser.org describes Produsage as an environment where the boundaries between producers (people who create something) and consumers (people who intake that something) no longer exist. It is where a user and a producer become one where they release some sort of content.
Axel burns argues that 'this presence of Produsage is an endless string of users acting incrementally as content producers by gradually extending and improving the information present in the information commons'. While at first I did not understand this statement, looking and I guess unfolding this statement word by word I have realized that this statement actually makes a lot of sense. Wikipedia and YouTube can be a prime example of this. Wikipedia is site full of information, while it might start off by a scholar or a professor writing it, nowadays pretty much anyone can make an account and add to the information or change the information that is given. So therefore the user (the person who is first reading the page) can become the producer (by adding to the piece or changing it) and in result a new content is born. This works the same for YouTube, how ever it is done in a different way. People create and post YouTube videos for many reasons, to get noticed, or to mock something or to get a point across. YouTube is a classic example of what Produsage is because a consumer can watch something but then change it to make something new or an extensions what it was originally, thus supporting Burns. For example this video of Justin Beibers song is a mockery done by Sam Mac from the radio station 92.9.
As we can see he has kept the beat of the original song but changed the lyrics to make a mockery of what a lot of people are saying about him. Produsage allows for people to get publicity either if it’s bad or good. Produsage is a type of product that is forever changing and forever evolving and the way to engage in Produsage is only going to expand, therefore supporting what Burns is trying to say that extending and improving the information already given in the information commons is endless with people trying to gain more from it.
Meadows, argues that experiences create a grounding of belief. “People in virtual worlds build things, use them, sell them, trade them and discuss them. When another person confirms what I am seeing, places value on it, spends time working to pay for it, buys it, keeps it, uses it, talks about it, gets emotional about it, and then sells it – this tells me there is something real happening. The suspension of disbelief has become a grounding of belief”.
Referring to second life, the question is, is this statement believable? It is easy to see how one can become addicted to such a program and how it can be easy for someone to suspend belief, the second life website in their introduction even makes this virtual reality world sound like dream, they do it in such a way that it makes you want to be part of this new world. When looking at the introduction to what Second Life is about the website, wwww.secondlife.com describes it as, 'what is second life?, A place to connect, A place to shop, A place to work, A place to love, A place to explore, A place to.. be different, Free yourself, Free your mind, Change your mind, Change your look, Love your look, Love your life....'
It is believed when someone suspends there belief it is 'a semi conscious decision, in which you put aside your disbelief and accept the premise as being real for the duration of being engaged in something' (www.mediacollege.com). Second life as the name says it itself allows for someone to be involved in a second (virtual reality) life. Meadows statement describes exactly what second life allows you to do, people can build things, such as there own business or houses, people can sell them to other people for money, people can use everything they create in second life, people can fall in love and get married in second life, it is really a place that has few limits. It can easily be seen as an escape from reality, you have almost complete control over this second life of yours and you can become so engaged in this life that your avatar becomes apart of you, you can feel yourself get emotionally attached to it.
But the question I would like to pose is, can all this attachment to something that is virtual be healthy? To be able to have a second life, one has to have a first life, the first life being of actual reality. If someone spends majority of their time in second life, what happens to their first life? When someone suspends there belief for so long how can they un-suspend it? People in second life become so attached to their avatar that they find themselves talking about them to people in real life, how can one say that they have fully stopped suspending belief then? When someone becomes so involved with second life and they become obsessed with it in their real life I suppose one can agree with meadows that the suspensions of disbelief has become grounding for belief, and I agree with meadows statement. That a second life can become some what a reality life as well to people become attached to it, how ever I do not agree that living a second life should out way your time spent in your first life. Being able to do everything that you can in second life allows people to dream and experience things that they would never do in real life, through a computer, people can become so transfixed, just like when reading a book become so involved with the character that has been created that it can in some ways determine their life. How ever when saying this, I believe that this is what happens to a lot of people their second life, it does become their first life and that suspending belief and living in this disbelief makes them believe that are greater things in life and those things are possible. Nevertheless I do not agree that this is a healthy way of living. The reality of second life is that it is just a computer game. A game that you have the controls over and a game that you can create, but instead of doing it through a computer, one can actually do it in real life.
If one can master the game of second life why can’t one master the game of real life, suspending your belief and engaging in a long amount of time in this disbelief is really just people using their imagination and fantasizing, but, people need to realize that their first life is not a fantasy but a reality and that their first life can not be deleted or easily changed like their second life. Although meadows statement allows for people to dream big and second life does support that, the suspension of disbelief has become a grounding of belief, it does not aid any one when someone needs to face hard reality.
