So, it's now the end of this course. I feel i have come away with quite alot of new knowledge.
In particular the 'gaming world' and the concepts and ideas that have arisen as a result of it's emergence. I never realised just how massive an impact online games have had in creating communities of people. Communities who are both participants and also communities of people against it's affect on society. The arguments for and against were very provocative and I would have to say of most interest to me is the role of gaming in culture. It's progression into an everyday practice and its affect on the society of our time. I myself, prior to the course, was probably against the cult like following of gaming. Now however, i understand that similar to other online portals, gaming can just be seen as another tool for people to connect with one another and communicate by an alternate medium.
I also enjoyed the types of films we watched, including the shorter documentaries. I found that they really helped in the exploration of the courses themes and concepts. I found that they quite specifically related to discussions and helped me to understand them from another point of view and in a different way.
Another thing that stood out to me in the course was the filesharring discussions. I enjoyed hearing the speech about CC as i never before knew of it's existence. Plus i liked learning about the positive role of filesharring in society, the way it can help to develop culture and society. Oddly enough i agree with that, yet disagree with the idea of open source. I feel that it is perfectly fair for organisations to charge for their software, but can understand the negative side and how it can restrict the technical development of society.
All in All, good course!! My only criticism is that the task requirements were too vague. Things such as due dates, criteria and what the task was directly asking of me seem very loose and difficult to find.
Spanks!!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Reference List - Email Informs Social Structure
Danaher, et al. (2000) "History and Geopolitics” in Understanding Foucault. London:Sage.
Eckert, P. "Variation, Convention, and Social Meaning." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. (2005): 1 - 19.
http://find.galegroup.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/itx/start.do?prodId=EAI
Poster, Mark. “Consumption and digital commodities in the everyday.” Cultural Studies 18.2- 3 (2004): 409 – 423. Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale.
http://find.galegroup.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/itx/start.do?prodId=EAI
<http://www.lghs.net/teachers/english/dgarrett/english10x/Literary_Terms.html
<http://www.eng1186.itrini.com/about.html>
<http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4F70/rr.html>
Email Informs Social Structure
The construction of present, western society yields a predominant form of text, email, as an integral communication method. The progression of new media communication methods such as email, informs the role of groups of people within a set of social structures. The study of email in terms of Sociolinguistic Variation, Everyday Culture and Semiotics allows for the construction of prevalent societal discourses to be identified and understood. The historical transition email has made to become an everyday practice, supports the value of this style of communication as an interpretive form of text for current society.
Current western society has adopted email as a mainstream communication method. It enables users to connect via the internet in real time, across a number of varying social contexts. Despite email being a relatively new form of communication, its presence in western society is undeniable. This however has not always been the case, as it is only within recent years that ‘email’ has enforced its role in western society as a functioning text, ultimately reinforcing already existent class distinctions.
Email technology has been in development since as early as 1838, whereby Samuel Morris’ telegraph indicated great possibilities. The progression of the telegraph, to the introduction of the telephone in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell, was another step toward achieving the email practice. The telephone allowed for long distance messages to be sent and received in near-real time, much like the now, greatly utilised email service. From the 1900’s to the 1950’s saw the inception of the telex, followed by the first fax machines. It wasn’t until the 1960’s and 1970’s that an email system, as we are familiar with today came about. Initially a system designed by the U.S. Department of Defense, it allowed for the transfer of data files from one host machine to another. Bolt Beranek and Newman were programmers who then developed the process of electronic message exchange into a means for sending personal messages in the early 1970’s, marking the very beginning of what was to become, commonplace electronic mailing. At the time of its creation, email was a tool used to combat the breach of transmissions during the height of the Cold War, it is important that as Gadamer states; “Every age…understand a transmitted text in it’s own way, for the text is part of the whole of the tradition in which the age takes an objective interest in which it seeks to understand itself.”
Though email, once incorporated into the communication traditions of military life alone, has now, three decades on become an integral function of western society.
The constant engagement of email correspondence between members of western society fuels the construction of discourses concerning class. The everyday practice of sending and receiving emails instills communicable, societal hierarchies. By participating in consistent communication via electronic mail it no longer establishes ones position in relation to the sender, but works to reinforce that position with each email read, composed and then sent. Zivancevic puts forth the notion that “Literariness is not an inherent feature of the text but is determined by the text’s cultural role within a specific society and the reader’s perception of it.”
When read as an everyday practice; the role email plays in society serves to support already dominant discourses of class, with the everyday practice of email portraying the engagement of societal hierarchies of present day. The cultural role of email as a functioning text of the everyday leads one to further analyse email as a resource for sociolinguistic variation.
The act of emailing as an everyday practice provides linguistic material, that is to say, a style of text that can be seen to serve a social purpose. (para 3, Eckert). By exploring the value of email in terms of its style rather than it’s textual features, allows an understanding to be drawn in relation to members of society and “…the construction of personae.” (Eckert, 2005, para 3). A community or network of people, who engage with email as an everyday practice, can then be defined by this very practice. As a style of text, the everyday practice of emailing is a process by which individuals construct their identity in their relative social context. The stylised features of email such as varying levels of formality associated with structure along with email signatures that feature professional positions held, enforce, in particular, member categorisation by socioeconomic class. As Eckert puts it “…this practice involves the construction of a shared orientation to the world around them – a tacit definition of themselves in relation to each other.”
The process of electronic mail can lead one to deduce a socioeconomic class discourse, which stems from its identification as an everyday practice, through to the texts analysis in terms of sociolinguistic variation and further more by specific signifiers contained in the email text.
The affirmation of socioeconomic class in present society can be linked to the engagement with electronic mail and certain semiotic elements. The semantic function of textual features within email is reinforced each time an email is read, composed and sent. Signifiers that support the socioeconomic class discourse are diction which derives tone, and in particular the act of CC’ing (carbon copying) and BCC’ing (blind carbon copying) of emails. An example of how diction can signify tone and levels of formality is the way in which one can choose to end an email. By ending an email with ‘kind regards’ informs a professional reading, whereas colloquial language such as ‘cheers’ or ‘thanks’ suggests familiarity or alternatively an abbreviation; ‘TTYL’ (talk to you later) indicates a deeper, unprofessional relationship. Another way to interpret signs found in emails is through the act of carbon copying. Carbon copying takes two forms; an email sender can choose to CC other email recipients or Blind CC further recipients. The purpose of CC’ing is to allow information that may be useful but not be directly related to persons to be read, whereas blind CC’ing is more commonly used in professional environments to allow superiors to monitor their staffs’ communications. As with each signifier identified; their relationship in the construction of a socioeconomic class discourse “Tends to exercise a set of pressures, a power of constraint on other forms of discourse.” (Foucault).
The progression of history continues to challenge social scenarios and hierarchies, whilst the transition of everyday practices also changes in order to more closely reflect social structures and the personae of its time.
The application of cultural theories to texts that serve an integral role within a period of time, allow for its social structures to be explored. Foucault expounds that by deconstructing a form of text, a more complete understanding of a societies structure can be ascertained. An analysis of email as an everyday practice can be further investigated through Sociolinguistic Variation, Discourses and Semiotics to produce an understanding of its contextual role in determining current culture. The current everyday practice of Email, informs the socioeconomic class by which western society is seen to participate in and engage with.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Intersplice Fieldtrip
Second Life (3D) VS MSN (2D?)
Some time ago, i signed up for second life as research for work. A client had asked for us to create a store for him inside the second life world, (we later advised them that it may not provide them with the adequate ROI that they were hoping for).
So, here I was, pessimistically entering this 3D world under the user name of 'Zahara Barsov'. My real name is Zoe Bruce, so I though that it was quite nice to have an exotic deviation of this. And once signed up, i have to say that i didn't really enjoy what it had to offer. Talking to people i didn't know was harder than i thought and reminded me of real life awkward conversations with relative strangers.
On the other hand, also for work i must use msn. It seems stupid to most of my friends that im online all the time and even stupid-er that its a work requirement. But i find it so very useful. My contact list only has people in it that i know and can carry out familiar conversation with, pretty much in binary opposition to the type of conversation in second life. So i guess that for me, the main difference between the two both stem from experiencing them in a work context. And from this context, the thing that strikes me most is my level of comfort when using them.
I must not like to leave my comfort zone as i found using msn and talking with people i know but cant see much more engaging than speaking with unknown people that i can kind of see...
Some time ago, i signed up for second life as research for work. A client had asked for us to create a store for him inside the second life world, (we later advised them that it may not provide them with the adequate ROI that they were hoping for).
So, here I was, pessimistically entering this 3D world under the user name of 'Zahara Barsov'. My real name is Zoe Bruce, so I though that it was quite nice to have an exotic deviation of this. And once signed up, i have to say that i didn't really enjoy what it had to offer. Talking to people i didn't know was harder than i thought and reminded me of real life awkward conversations with relative strangers.
On the other hand, also for work i must use msn. It seems stupid to most of my friends that im online all the time and even stupid-er that its a work requirement. But i find it so very useful. My contact list only has people in it that i know and can carry out familiar conversation with, pretty much in binary opposition to the type of conversation in second life. So i guess that for me, the main difference between the two both stem from experiencing them in a work context. And from this context, the thing that strikes me most is my level of comfort when using them.
I must not like to leave my comfort zone as i found using msn and talking with people i know but cant see much more engaging than speaking with unknown people that i can kind of see...
Task 8
Microsoft Word
I am not a fan of word! I have been brought up my whole life with a mac computer in my household. I have endured years of ridicule and frustration in my younger years when the two were not compatible; word and appleworks, meaning that any work I did at school could not be transferred home with me and visa versa. But now....finally the two have somewhat merged allowing me to export my mac pages docs to word format for further use at uni. So with all this pent up angst, it is very grudgingly that i complete this word exercise as at both home and work i use pages and have come to love it and the way it works.
Overall, i found the task quite easy. The advanced section was something I had never tried before, so it took me a tad longer to complete this section. However the rest I found to be quite straight forward, having done it many times before.
Microsoft Excel
So, if I didn't like word, I have to say that excel is even scarier territory for me. There is an ongoing joke between two of us at work - both avid anti excel users. We honestly avoid it like the plague and try to eradicate it from our day to day activity as much as humanly possible. I understand that it's an extremely useful tool and one of my friends in particular would pretty much marry the program if it were legal, but I personally just can't be bothered to take the time to get my head around it.... Until now that is... so here goes.
this part of the task was frustrating. Even though it was step by step I found it quite difficult to complete quickly as i had to keep clicking back and forth reading and re-reading the instructions. It all seemed to work out though, which amazed me!! The program that had caused me so much past grief holds new found hope! I think that this exercise was kind of useful to me, i know that i will still try my darndest to avoid using excel, but at least now i know why some other people (freaks) choose to use the program so often and with such ease.
I am not a fan of word! I have been brought up my whole life with a mac computer in my household. I have endured years of ridicule and frustration in my younger years when the two were not compatible; word and appleworks, meaning that any work I did at school could not be transferred home with me and visa versa. But now....finally the two have somewhat merged allowing me to export my mac pages docs to word format for further use at uni. So with all this pent up angst, it is very grudgingly that i complete this word exercise as at both home and work i use pages and have come to love it and the way it works.
Overall, i found the task quite easy. The advanced section was something I had never tried before, so it took me a tad longer to complete this section. However the rest I found to be quite straight forward, having done it many times before.
Microsoft Excel
So, if I didn't like word, I have to say that excel is even scarier territory for me. There is an ongoing joke between two of us at work - both avid anti excel users. We honestly avoid it like the plague and try to eradicate it from our day to day activity as much as humanly possible. I understand that it's an extremely useful tool and one of my friends in particular would pretty much marry the program if it were legal, but I personally just can't be bothered to take the time to get my head around it.... Until now that is... so here goes.
this part of the task was frustrating. Even though it was step by step I found it quite difficult to complete quickly as i had to keep clicking back and forth reading and re-reading the instructions. It all seemed to work out though, which amazed me!! The program that had caused me so much past grief holds new found hope! I think that this exercise was kind of useful to me, i know that i will still try my darndest to avoid using excel, but at least now i know why some other people (freaks) choose to use the program so often and with such ease.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Topic Outline - Essay
Email Reinforces Social Structures
The construction of present, western society yields a predominant form of text, email, as an integral communication method. The progression of new media communication methods such as email, informs the role of groups of people within a set of social structures. The study of email in terms of Sociolinguistic Variation, Everyday Culture and Semiotics allows for the construction of prevalent societal discourses to be identified and understood. The historical transition email has made to become an everyday practice, supports the value of this style of communication as an interpretive form of text for current groups in society.
Current western society has adopted email as a mainstream communication method. It enables users to connect via the internet in real time, across a number of varying social contexts. Despite email being a relatively new form of communication, its presence in western society is undeniable. This however has not always been the case, as it is only within the last 15 years that ‘email’ has enforced its role in western society as a functioning text, ultimately reinforcing already existent class distinctions.
The application of cultural theories to texts that serve an integral role within a period of time, allow for its social structures to be explored. Foucault expounds that by deconstructing a form of text, a more complete understanding of a societies structure can be ascertained. An analysis of email as an everyday practice can be further investigated through Sociolinguistic Variation, Discourses and Semiotics to produce an understanding of its contextual role in determining current culture.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
What is Modern 'ART'
I'm a week late on this post. But without further ado, here it is...
With reference to Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", is technology allowing anyone to be an artist?? Applications such as; Photoshop, iTunes Garage Band, Illustrator, iDVD etc (basically anything mac shop pro) are allowing users to edit and create their own version of art.
Is it wrong. Is it Art. Is it crap.
In most cases, I would say that it is a version of art. One that I and others may not truly appreciate as much as art found in the louvre and museums... But 'art' all the same. Music is art, film is art, photography is art. they are all forms of art, but perhaps not at quite the same discerning level.
I have wondered if the popularity of consumer generated media could have anything to do with the progression of 'art' and contemporary digital media. The evolution of art has been brought down to the 'anyone can be an artist' level. How? Through marketing i believe. Marketers know consumers, saw the increase in demand for consumer generated opportunity and then they did anything they could to make it as mainstream as possible. 'Create our ad starring you', 'upload pics of you wearing our jeans', 'put your band on MySpace and get signed'. Film, photography and music........ created by the consumer ........ labeled 'art' by marketers.
So I have just gone off on a tangent, but to bring it all back together. I think art, as with beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
With reference to Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", is technology allowing anyone to be an artist?? Applications such as; Photoshop, iTunes Garage Band, Illustrator, iDVD etc (basically anything mac shop pro) are allowing users to edit and create their own version of art.
Is it wrong. Is it Art. Is it crap.
In most cases, I would say that it is a version of art. One that I and others may not truly appreciate as much as art found in the louvre and museums... But 'art' all the same. Music is art, film is art, photography is art. they are all forms of art, but perhaps not at quite the same discerning level.
I have wondered if the popularity of consumer generated media could have anything to do with the progression of 'art' and contemporary digital media. The evolution of art has been brought down to the 'anyone can be an artist' level. How? Through marketing i believe. Marketers know consumers, saw the increase in demand for consumer generated opportunity and then they did anything they could to make it as mainstream as possible. 'Create our ad starring you', 'upload pics of you wearing our jeans', 'put your band on MySpace and get signed'. Film, photography and music........ created by the consumer ........ labeled 'art' by marketers.
So I have just gone off on a tangent, but to bring it all back together. I think art, as with beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
Wiki, I'm the expert..?
Soooo, choose a topic that I have a fair amount of knowledge on and then search for it on WIKI.
The topic I chose...... Google Adwords.
So, what did i find?? Not nearly as much as I thought I would have. When first signing up to Google Adwords (as a part of the call of duty for work) I researched and researched and researched how to use the God Damn thing. And believe me, the research lead me to realise that everyone thought they were an expert. Every article I read put forth the notion that they had cracked it, that they had the answers for how to maximise ROI with Google Adwords!!! Alas, they didn't. After a good 18months of managing accounts for our clients, I feel that I am now a fairly competent 'Adwords Professional'. (so our clients would hope anyway). ANYWAY, when i searched 'Google Adwords' on Wiki a relatively brief synopsis appeared. Not nearly as comprehensive as I had imagined it would be. I read through it, and the rather general explanation offered mediocre information. None of it stood out as particularly incorrect, so I decided to simply add to it.
Recently Google Adwords introduced a change to the URL policy, which I thought might be worthy of addition to the Wiki World. It reads as follows:
The topic I chose...... Google Adwords.
So, what did i find?? Not nearly as much as I thought I would have. When first signing up to Google Adwords (as a part of the call of duty for work) I researched and researched and researched how to use the God Damn thing. And believe me, the research lead me to realise that everyone thought they were an expert. Every article I read put forth the notion that they had cracked it, that they had the answers for how to maximise ROI with Google Adwords!!! Alas, they didn't. After a good 18months of managing accounts for our clients, I feel that I am now a fairly competent 'Adwords Professional'. (so our clients would hope anyway). ANYWAY, when i searched 'Google Adwords' on Wiki a relatively brief synopsis appeared. Not nearly as comprehensive as I had imagined it would be. I read through it, and the rather general explanation offered mediocre information. None of it stood out as particularly incorrect, so I decided to simply add to it.
Recently Google Adwords introduced a change to the URL policy, which I thought might be worthy of addition to the Wiki World. It reads as follows:
Policy and Restrictions
As of April 2008 Google AdWords no longer allows for the display URL to deviate from that of the destination URL. Prior to it's introduction, Google paid advertisements could feature different landing page URL's to that of what was being displayed on the search network. Google expounds that the policy change stems from both user and advertiser feedback. The concern prompting the restriction change is believed to be the premise on which users clicked advertisements. Users were in some cases, being mislead and further targeted by AdWords advertisers.
As of April 2008 Google AdWords no longer allows for the display URL to deviate from that of the destination URL. Prior to it's introduction, Google paid advertisements could feature different landing page URL's to that of what was being displayed on the search network. Google expounds that the policy change stems from both user and advertiser feedback. The concern prompting the restriction change is believed to be the premise on which users clicked advertisements. Users were in some cases, being mislead and further targeted by AdWords advertisers.
So there you have it..... may the Wiki World continue to grow.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
No Google, No Wiki...eeek
okay so here goes, a series of answers to a series of questions... without the helping hand of Google. (I feel like a traitor to my beloved Google, yet feel somewhat charitable to underdog Yahoo).
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus? Onel de Guzman
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/29/philippines.lovebug.02/index.html
2. Who invented the paper clip? Johan Vaaler
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpaperclip.htm
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name? "The virus gets its name from a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first recognized."
http://ebola.emedtv.com/ebola-virus/from-what-place-did-the-ebola-virus-get-its-name.html
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake? Southern Chile
http://www.seismo-watch.com/EQSERVICES/NotableEQ/May/0522.Chile.html
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte? 20
http://kb.iu.edu/data/ackw.html and http://www.math.com/students/calculators/source/basic.htm
6. Who is the creator of email? Ray Tomlinson
http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/email.htm
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it? The Storm Botnet is a distributed computer network consisting of computers remotely controlled without their owner's knowledge. Up to 5 million infected.
http://what-is-what.com/what_is/storm.html and http://antivirus.about.com/od/virusdescriptions/a/stormworm.htm
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly,
what is the most efficient way? Call Kevin Rudd - Phone (02) 6277 7700
http://www.directory.gov.au/osearch.php?ou%3DPrime%20Minister%2Cou%3DMinisters%2Co%3DPrime%20Minister%20and%20Cabinet%2Co%3DPortfolios%2Co%3DCommonwealth%20of%20Australia%2Cc%3DAU&changebase
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School
of Arts) a member of? The Black Assassins
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~toxicoh/blackas.htm
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words? I see 'web 2.0' as a term that refers to the second generation of the world wide web. It is more focussed on enabling online communities and consumer generated content. In addition, improved applications support information sharing and site features have moved away from static pages to far more engaging and dynamic formats; eg. flash.
www.zoesmind.com.au
wow, kind of difficult, but still achievable. Lucky for me Yahoo refuses to throw in the towel.
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus? Onel de Guzman
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/29/philippines.lovebug.02/index.html
2. Who invented the paper clip? Johan Vaaler
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpaperclip.htm
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name? "The virus gets its name from a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first recognized."
http://ebola.emedtv.com/ebola-virus/from-what-place-did-the-ebola-virus-get-its-name.html
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake? Southern Chile
http://www.seismo-watch.com/EQSERVICES/NotableEQ/May/0522.Chile.html
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte? 20
http://kb.iu.edu/data/ackw.html and http://www.math.com/students/calculators/source/basic.htm
6. Who is the creator of email? Ray Tomlinson
http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/email.htm
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it? The Storm Botnet is a distributed computer network consisting of computers remotely controlled without their owner's knowledge. Up to 5 million infected.
http://what-is-what.com/what_is/storm.html and http://antivirus.about.com/od/virusdescriptions/a/stormworm.htm
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly,
what is the most efficient way? Call Kevin Rudd - Phone (02) 6277 7700
http://www.directory.gov.au/osearch.php?ou%3DPrime%20Minister%2Cou%3DMinisters%2Co%3DPrime%20Minister%20and%20Cabinet%2Co%3DPortfolios%2Co%3DCommonwealth%20of%20Australia%2Cc%3DAU&changebase
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School
of Arts) a member of? The Black Assassins
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~toxicoh/blackas.htm
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words? I see 'web 2.0' as a term that refers to the second generation of the world wide web. It is more focussed on enabling online communities and consumer generated content. In addition, improved applications support information sharing and site features have moved away from static pages to far more engaging and dynamic formats; eg. flash.
www.zoesmind.com.au
wow, kind of difficult, but still achievable. Lucky for me Yahoo refuses to throw in the towel.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Marketing, Gen Y...INTERNET
It seems that 56% of Gen Y's prefer to be marketed to via the internet... it is said to be indispensable. Well Dah!
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/18825.asp
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/18825.asp
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
- how i ENGAGE -
New communication technology and me...
The way in which i see myself interacting with new comm tech is, for the most part, a convenience tool for staying connected.
Using applications such as messenger, myspace, facebook, email and flickr allow me to stay in the 'loop' more easily. Once upon a time the way i viewed communicating with friends was through a landline...this then changed to mobile and now has expanded to the world wide web.
I LOVE IT!!
Perhaps i am just another sucker of the net generation. But quite frankly, i don't care. I use each of these sites ALOT for social purposes, work and family.
Predominantly I would say my consumption is socially based. I find the greatest advantage of it to be that you can show friends you still care about them and what they're up to even when you don't have the time to catch up in person. It seems that lately our lives are becoming more and more busy!!! After all we did just beat out America in having one of the worst work and life balances in the world. (not actually happy about winning this title, the future is beginning to look bleak).
hmm well that's my thoughts on new comm tech for the momento.
The way in which i see myself interacting with new comm tech is, for the most part, a convenience tool for staying connected.
Using applications such as messenger, myspace, facebook, email and flickr allow me to stay in the 'loop' more easily. Once upon a time the way i viewed communicating with friends was through a landline...this then changed to mobile and now has expanded to the world wide web.
I LOVE IT!!
Perhaps i am just another sucker of the net generation. But quite frankly, i don't care. I use each of these sites ALOT for social purposes, work and family.
Predominantly I would say my consumption is socially based. I find the greatest advantage of it to be that you can show friends you still care about them and what they're up to even when you don't have the time to catch up in person. It seems that lately our lives are becoming more and more busy!!! After all we did just beat out America in having one of the worst work and life balances in the world. (not actually happy about winning this title, the future is beginning to look bleak).
hmm well that's my thoughts on new comm tech for the momento.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Online destinations, five categories...
Where do Facebook and Myspace fit in.... it would seem that they only fit in the nooks, crannies and crevises. Online destinations can be broken up into five paramount categories: search, content, commerce, communication and community.
'42.7% of consumer time online is spent with content sites, 28.6% is with communication sites, 16.1% with commerce sites and 5% on search sites.'
(Nielsen Online Data, AdAge)
- ONLY 7.5% OF THEIR TIME IS SPENT ON COMMUNITY SITES -
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=125623
'42.7% of consumer time online is spent with content sites, 28.6% is with communication sites, 16.1% with commerce sites and 5% on search sites.'
(Nielsen Online Data, AdAge)
- ONLY 7.5% OF THEIR TIME IS SPENT ON COMMUNITY SITES -
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=125623
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
is email D E A D...
For the moment - No, it most certainly is not. Email is alive and kicking in every single one of us... so it would seem.
A survey taken in both the tute and within the griffith portal has come back with results that enforce the prominent role of email in each of our day to day lives. Though, it may stand to reason to argue that the results are quite biased in that the participants of the survey are tech savvy youths with an interest in media + technology, they can still be drawn upon to some extent.
On a likert scale of "How dead is email?" Not one respondent said that they don't use it.
67% remarked that it has it's place whilst 13% believe it to be God. In not having any religious ties myself, I would have to agree with the 13% and at last have found a worthy contender to regard as my own 'God'.... this leaves me wondering if I could also refer to my inbox as a church.
I have to say, if that were to be the case, i'm much more of a devotee religious fanatic than the other slackas who only attend their place of worship on any given Sunday!!
All metaphors aside, am I really right to assume that my 'God' will remain static. What if email were to die... (I feel like a traitor to even utter a thought of disbelief in the survival of the almighty power that be). Would I, an avid media consumer be willing to forgo my current God if it were to be replaced by a 'new media' being.
Well......yes of course I would be. I'm a Gen Y you fools. I will not only adapt, but embrace anything that new media wishes to throw at me.
For now email is a tool that I believe makes my life easier. Like my fellow 74.7% of survey monkeyers, I feel that technology eases and converges the sometimes loose seams that formulate my life. It brings together my work, home, education, banking, social, travel, shopping, research, transport and endless topical enquiries into one big fat church which i can, at my leisure, sort into neat little rows and pews complete with crosses and holier than thy water.
But! When an even bigger and better church is built next door with extra features for the average church goer, I will be more than willing to praise accordingly.
Oh and be on the look out for this neat little product - www.sabersurvey.com ......coming soon!!
(I'm told the analytical graphs are much prettier than that of it's rivals).
A survey taken in both the tute and within the griffith portal has come back with results that enforce the prominent role of email in each of our day to day lives. Though, it may stand to reason to argue that the results are quite biased in that the participants of the survey are tech savvy youths with an interest in media + technology, they can still be drawn upon to some extent.
On a likert scale of "How dead is email?" Not one respondent said that they don't use it.
67% remarked that it has it's place whilst 13% believe it to be God. In not having any religious ties myself, I would have to agree with the 13% and at last have found a worthy contender to regard as my own 'God'.... this leaves me wondering if I could also refer to my inbox as a church.
I have to say, if that were to be the case, i'm much more of a devotee religious fanatic than the other slackas who only attend their place of worship on any given Sunday!!
All metaphors aside, am I really right to assume that my 'God' will remain static. What if email were to die... (I feel like a traitor to even utter a thought of disbelief in the survival of the almighty power that be). Would I, an avid media consumer be willing to forgo my current God if it were to be replaced by a 'new media' being.
Well......yes of course I would be. I'm a Gen Y you fools. I will not only adapt, but embrace anything that new media wishes to throw at me.
For now email is a tool that I believe makes my life easier. Like my fellow 74.7% of survey monkeyers, I feel that technology eases and converges the sometimes loose seams that formulate my life. It brings together my work, home, education, banking, social, travel, shopping, research, transport and endless topical enquiries into one big fat church which i can, at my leisure, sort into neat little rows and pews complete with crosses and holier than thy water.
But! When an even bigger and better church is built next door with extra features for the average church goer, I will be more than willing to praise accordingly.
Oh and be on the look out for this neat little product - www.sabersurvey.com ......coming soon!!
(I'm told the analytical graphs are much prettier than that of it's rivals).
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Defining a 'Network'
so, what is a network?
I, Zoe Michelle would define it as a group of people collaborating, interacting and sharing with one another in a common place. It's a collection of people actively participating in 'something', more often than not, in a social way.
When it comes to online networking, the examples listed below span across many genres:
Although the target demographic of each differs, these social networks achieve much the same thing. They provide a place for users to interact and share with others. Their appeal to users lies in the social aspect they offer... yet is also seen as a tool to exploit oneself. Whether it be to a private network of friends or to the wider public.
The Gen Y appeal of self exploitation sees no bounds on Myspace and Facebook. This genre of networks in particular caters to a variety of needs across all groups of people within society. However the perception of those in society, the users, (the term users in itself draws connotations of drug abuse and addiction...indeed it can become) is that it allows us to break away from perhaps stereotyped social group and to evolve into an 'INDIVIDUAL'.
Well so us Gen Y's like to believe.
I, Zoe Michelle would define it as a group of people collaborating, interacting and sharing with one another in a common place. It's a collection of people actively participating in 'something', more often than not, in a social way.
When it comes to online networking, the examples listed below span across many genres:
- IM / MSN / Adium
- Myspace / Facebook
- Mobile Phones
- Forums / Message Boards / Yahoo groups
- Online games (mmogs, consoles, Xbox live)
- Blogs....well what do you know, here i am
- Dating websites
- Wikipedia
- Ebay
- File sharring /p2p
- Youtube
- Emails
- Flickr / photobucket / photo sharring
- Secondlife
- Job search... erm not as social but, commonplace people all the same.
Although the target demographic of each differs, these social networks achieve much the same thing. They provide a place for users to interact and share with others. Their appeal to users lies in the social aspect they offer... yet is also seen as a tool to exploit oneself. Whether it be to a private network of friends or to the wider public.
The Gen Y appeal of self exploitation sees no bounds on Myspace and Facebook. This genre of networks in particular caters to a variety of needs across all groups of people within society. However the perception of those in society, the users, (the term users in itself draws connotations of drug abuse and addiction...indeed it can become) is that it allows us to break away from perhaps stereotyped social group and to evolve into an 'INDIVIDUAL'.
Well so us Gen Y's like to believe.
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