WEEK 7 "My Essay Topic"

4. Writing in 1994, close to the birth of the internet, Howard Rheingold said "those of us who are brought into contact with each other by means of CMC [computer-mediated communication] technology find ourselves challenged by this many-to-many capability—challenged to consider whether it is possible for us to build some kind of community together" (Rheingold, Howard, 1994. "Introduction.' In The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. HarperPerennial: New York. p. 12.)

Critically consider this question in terms of a contemporary social network, and discuss whether Rheingold's ideal of community has been achieved. You must draw on academic literature in the field in framing your essay.

I have considered to focus particularly on Facebook or online gaming as the contemporary social network.

WEEK 7 " What is a Scholarly Source"

Peer Review Test

Anna Selleh, "Bionic implants raise ethical questions" 

Is not a scholarly source

Igor Ristić, "The Virtual Public Sphere" 

Is not a scholarly source

Philip N. Howard and Malcolm R. Parks, "Social Media and Political Change: Capacity, Constraint, and Consequence" 

Is a scholarly source

S O Hansson, "Implant Ethics" 
Is a scholarly source 

Vacha Dave, Saikat Guha, and Yin Zhang, "Measuring and Fingerprinting Click-Spam in Ad Networks" 

Is a scholarly source

Henry Jenkins, "Media and Imagination: A Short History of American Science Fiction" 

Is not a scholarly source

Greg Goldberg, "Rethinking the public/virtual sphere: The problem with participation" 

Is a scholarly source

Communications Research Unit, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, "History of Communications in Australia" 

Is not a scholarly source

Stephen Brook, "Radio revenue goes backwards in July" 
Is not a scholarly source

WEEK 5 "The Virtual Community"

"For Rheingold the virtual community arises when people carry on public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships”. (Rheingold 1993 p. 5)

I agree with Rheingold’s view about online community. It is possible to bind a relationship or friendship through an online community. Because finding a community that you feel belonged to in your own society is not always easy. For example a Gay person living in a society that doesn’t accept his gender can influence this individual to feel depressed and alienated. However, meeting people online across the world that share the same feelings as him might become a huge support for him. I have personally formed a friendship between people that I have met online. As I’ve mention in my previous posts, I’ve been raised in Thailand, which is a completely different society to where I live now. One day I found an online avatar game (application) that had chat rooms for each region. Most surprisingly was that everyone in the Thailand chat room were Thai people that lived away from home like me. After a period of time we shared our more personal social networks e.g. Facebook and Instagram.

However, forming a relationship through an online community is not always easy. Because you never know how the person on your computer screen looks like, what’s their intention or how real they are. Meeting people online can become very dangerous in some cases. Therefore, you must be careful of the people who you meet online and most importantly be careful of how much you expose your own identity online.   


Source: http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/intro.html

WEEK 4 "The Allegory of the Cave"

For the required readings for this week, I've attempted to read Plato's "Allegory of the Cave". At first it was quite confusing until I found this video that made me understand it a bit more.

However, after understanding it I questioned my self if Plato’s allegory is still relevant to today’s society? I think it is. Specifically, when the prisoners believe that the shadows that they see and the echoes that they hear are real. And once a prisoner is freed, it becomes difficult for him to distinct what is real and what isn’t.

To compare it to our society, the shadows that the prisoners see can be a metaphor of the technology, media, and the government. We’ve become the prisoners of these controllers. How much do we really know about what we see and hear from the media, which perhaps is controlled by the government? Therefore, we still believe in what we see on television, what we hear on the radio and what we read on the Internet. And it’s because it’s challenging for us to recognise what is real, what is untold or how they have shaped the truth into a different story. 

Source: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/platoscave.html

WEEK 4 "Cyberpunk"

I have never been a fan of any cyberpunk films or games, perhaps they seemed too unreal and hard to believe. However, after researching about this concept it changed my mind. Cyberpunk is more real than I’ve imagined. The themes of cyberpunk are about the dark issues that surround technology. The particular themes of cyberpunk that I think can easily related to today’s society are the Internet (government) controlling over us and hacktivism.

I think the purpose of cyberpunk is not only about looking at the future of technology but it reflects to us to look at our society today, and see how far we have already came.  

WEEK 3 “How much do we Value the Originality of Art”

As our technology has developed and the use of Internet has became our everyday basis, we now tend to spend more time in front of our computer screens than being outdoor exploring the real world. There’s no doubt that our computers and smartphones have now become our main source of entertainment. Having access to the Internet is like having access to art galleries, concerts, cinemas etc. Weather it’s illegal or not, downloading movies or music on the Internet is cheap or free, easy and convenient. But is there a difference between the original art and the version we watch or listen on our computers?

There definitely is! Live music, movies in the cinema or an original piece of art have significant uniqueness in many ways. However, how much do we value the originality of art? Has our value in it decrease since we have so much access to it online?

For me, it depends on what type of art it is. Paintings, portraits, fine art etc. that are shown in art galleries might not have much value to me since I have seen it on the Internet. Therefore, with music I think it increases my value in it’s originality. After listening to a song that I really like online, encourages me to want to listen to it performed live.Therefore I think it depends on the individual, if you’re passionate in a genre of art I think you will have a higher value in the original piece or performance than the online version.