WEEK 5 "Social Media News"

Today I found an interesting fact from a Thai news article. It reported that over 7 million people in Thailand chose to send online Christmas and New Year cards though social networks such as Facebook.  From this news story it reflects to how convenience our communication methods have become.

As an advantage it’s generally free, fast and easy. Especially when you want to send it to someone who lives across the country or overseas.  I’ve also been tagged in cards on Facebook a few times. This method is probably a very convenience way to write a single card but allows you to send it to many people at once.

But does it make the cards worthless? For people who like to collect cards like my self, I prefer the traditional system. Either I give them the card face to face or send it via the mail. I think it makes the card a bit more special than the online version.

However, that’s only my point of view. Let me know what you think about sending cards online and what you would prefer?

Reference: News Article

WEEK 5 "The Virtual Community"

When mentioning the word “social media” in our current society, at least 500 million people are a part of it.  In my generation, we’ve been familiarised to social media since a very young age. For me, the first social site that I decided to join was when I was in grade 8 to a social network called hi5. Then, to Facebook along with twitter, instagram and many other social medias that became popular, I signed up for them and have been using them since then. Therefore, for the old-school social networks like hi5, my space, Bebo etc. eventually decreases their users. However, these social networks aren’t that old when compared to one of the first ever social networks that was launched in 1985. 

Twenty-eight years ago the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link or the WELL was introduced to the Internet users and currently has 2,693 members. You might think that it's just another social network but the significants of this site is the introduction to the online virtual community. Rheingold was one of the members of WELL when he discovered that “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)

In 2013 we can easily compare this concept to social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even online dating sites. I think the virtual community has numerous advantages. One could be that it affects us to feel accepted in a community because sometimes it’s not easy to feel completely comfortable and opened in the reality. Therefore, finding a online community that shares a common interest allows us to form a sense a belonging.

Reference: The Virtual Community by Howard Rheingold 
The WELL

WEEK 4 "The Allegory of the Cave"

The allegory of the cave is a famous story by a Greek philosopher, Plato. Once I read it, I honestly didn’t quite get the message that was in the story. But as I researched Plato’s concept of the story it made me not only understand it but I was also able to reflect the idea to our society.
Ploto’s purpose of the story was to compare  "...the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature". However, I think in the 21st century Plato’s concept relates more to the power of the governments and the media. As the prisoners suppose that the shadows and echoes that they see and hear are what reality means for them. Moreover, as a prisoner is freed he fails to identify and face the truth. In comparison to the society that we live in today, this particular concept can relate to the way we are controlled by the media and governments. What we see on television or read in newspapers are comparable to the shadows that the prisoners observe. We often believe in what we see in the media however, governments and other organisations are often control of it. Once we see the reality as the prisoner was freed from the cave, it becomes a challenge for many to identify and accept if it is true or not.

Reference: The Allegory of the Cave

WEEK 4 "Time Toast"

This week we explored and attempted to use a website called Timtoast. The website allows us to create a timeline of any historical event, inventions or any timeline that you are interested in. Timetoast becomes very useful for students to research various timelines. However, the website allows anyone to create a timeline. Thus, it might be difficult to define how reliable the timelines are. Therefore, Timetoast can also be used to create more personal timelines such as your vacations or like a diary of what significant events happened in you life.

WEEK 3 "Mind Control and the Internet"

“In Chorost’s ideal world, which he lays out with the unequivocal zeal of a convert, we will all be connected directly to the Internet via a neural implant, so that the Internet would become seamlessly part of us, as natural and simple to use as our own hands.”

 Michael Chorost

I believe that Chorost’s ideal of the World Wide Mind is a very worrying concept for many people including myself. Perhaps it’s just my fear of change but I think there are many possibilities that the ideal can go wrong.  Therefore, the treatment of diseases and disabilities is one of its largest advantages.  However, just by imagining about Chorost’s ideal, several questions rise about our humanity in our future society.

·      Firstly, who would be control of the World Wide Mind? Today, we are already much controlled by the governments and surprisingly by Google. Therefore, if we allow the Internet into our brains and allow it to make decisions on behalf of us, what would our society look like? And will democracy still exist?

·      Secondly, how much would it cost?

Who will be able to use it? Will it be used globally? I guess due to the long-term research, high quality equipment, and the process of imputing the gadget in the brain would cost a lot of money. Thus, not everyone would have access to the technology. Then, issues of equality and cyborg vs. human may arise.

·      And lastly, will it really make us smarter?

Chorost claims that his ideal of the World Wide Mind will make us better humans as we become smarter. However, if there’s a faster way to get smarter than reading, studying and investigating what would happen to our education systems in the future? Perhaps if the system goes down, would cyborgs still be smart?

The concept of the World Wide Mind might be surprising and seem impossible for us at the moment. But in the early days people may have similar views about computers and the Internet before it was invented. Therefore, by looking at our present society we may already have become cyborgs as we are so attached to our phones and rely on the Internet and Google for all the information we need. 

Source:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/mind-control-and-internet/?pagination=false

WEEK 3 "TED TALKS"

This week I was introduced to TED.com. The website displays numerous videos of TED talk conferences by individuals with worth spreading ideas. Many videos that I watched were very interesting and would be good sources for my future research or assignments. However, there was one particular talk about the media and new communication technologies that I found most interesting. The talk was by Evan Williams the co-founder of Twitter in 2009. In the video he talks about how Twitter started and its functions. Williams also talked about the several advantages of the movement of how we communicate through Twitter. The social network is unique by its ability to dispense news and information to a broad audience, whereas others may focus on the individuals. Therefore, it’s important for many people to use the medium to broadcast their opinions or photos particularly for politicians, governments, businesses, and celebrities.

As for Australia in 2013, I've noticed how the politicians have used Twitter to gain their votes in the recent election. I also found a news article from ABC interviewing Gus Whyte about his point of view of election campaigns being wedge online. Whyte claimed that "There's politicians that are finding Twitter is useful for them to get a message out, and I'm sure, or I would certainly hope, using it as a way to listen in on some conversations to see how they are going to be perceived and whether policies lining up with the wants and needs of the community."
This shows just how powerful Twitter has become since it was first launched in 2006. And I expect it become even more powerful in the future.

Reference: Can a tweet win your vote?

WEEK 2 "Online Privacy"

 
Have you ever seen those annoying ads that pop-up on Facebook? And have you ever wondered why those ads are specifically targeted to you in some way? For example from my experience, I will often see advertises of online female clothing shops, shoes shops, university advertisements or bookshops with special discounts for students on the side of my Facebook newsfeed. I used to be surprised to the fact that they know that I’m a student and a woman who enjoys buying new shoes and cloths. But then I realised that I was on Facebook, a site that I provided them with all the data they know. My name, age, gender, occupation or even what I’m interested in.

Therefore is it ok for Facebook to collect its users’ information and share it to other companies? For advertising purposes it may not be an extreme issue for me because as Facebook claimed that they don’t use personal information such as your name or contact details. Instead they use data from what you share and like and demographic data such as your age, gender, location and interests. Facebook further declared that it would help them provide more relevant ads for us. In a business point of view it’s also an advantage for the companies.

But most importantly I think it depends on how much we expose ourselves on the online world. According to Almeida (2012, p. 5) the online privacy issues are a large problem to our society. Yet many individuals still continue to post personal information on their social networks. Furthermore, the author claimed that “the more we live online, the more others will know about us” (Almeida 2012, p. 6). However, these issues don’t only apply to the public but governments are also being challenged, for example by WikiLeaks. Therefore, I think the best way to prevent online privacy issues is to always be aware of the information that you provide to these social media sites. Personal contact details such as phone numbers and addresses shouldn’t be seen by everyone on the Internet. And lastly, is to be aware with accepting the policy terms that not many people read when they first sign in to a social network. It may be very long and may require a couple of minutes to read through but it’s safe to know where your information would end up. By the end of the day it’s up to you whether you choose to have your profile seen just by your friends or the public.

Reference: 

Privacy Problems in the Online world

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