Essay

The Contempoary internet user

Since the emergence of the internet not only has the content and application of it changed and expanded, but so too has the contemporary internet user. With the internet boom in full swing we have seen a new generation of internet users created, defined as the “digital natives”. Experts have attempted to categorise the contemporary internet user or “digital natives” as they are referred to, with various opinions arising. Articles by both Marc Prensky and Dave Weinberger represent views of the contemporary internet user, both portraying different representations, but both true within themselves. These articles set a benchmark for considering what implications the internet has on us as individuals and society.

When the term ‘internet user’ arises, many of us can associate both negative and positive connotations. Marc Prensky’s article “the emerging online life of the digital native” summarises one view of the contemporary internet user. Prensky (2004) suggests that digital natives are inventing new and interesting ways to do each activity online based on the technologies they have available to them and their online life has become more than just the internet, it has become a strategy to survive in the twenty-first century. Digital natives have changed the way they do virtually everything on the internet, from the way they communicate, create, coordinate, exchange, learn and most importantly socialise (Prensky 2004). Prensky (2004) claims that these changes signify more than anything that the digital native generation is moving ahead in its own direction and it’s incorporating technology in everyday life in unexpected ways. A survey of 200,000 U.S students concludes that “Students are not just using technology different today, but are approaching their life and their daily activities differently because of technology” (Netday survey 2004). The overall impression we as readers take away from Prensky’s article is that the internet is allow us to express our creativity on a larger scale and expand the possibilities of the internet for generations to come to benefit from. There is positive impression of the contemporary internet user conveyed through this article.

Weinberger’s article “A New World” takes a very different angle on the contemporary internet user than Prensky’s article expresses. Weinberger (2002) suggests that the web is this version of a ‘new world’ and society in general have issues distinguishing between the real world and this virtual world (the web). As internet users we are continuously rewriting ourselves on the web, we’re saying and doing things we never expected and we’re meeting people we never dreamed of meeting, but more importantly we’re meeting new aspects of ourselves (Weinberger 2002). But this virtual world is affecting more than our shopping experiences, it’s affecting the way we are social. “The web is a world we’ve made for one another. It can only be understood within a web of ideas that includes our cultures foundational thoughts” (David Weinberger 2002). Weinberger (2002) believes this virtual world or the web as we know it is corrupting our mind and our ability to interact in the real world. As readers we are positioned to believe that the internet is a affecting our ability to interact in the real world and corrupting our minds by allowing us to enter this virtual world. This article associates negative connotations with the internet and its impact on users.

Despite the fact that both of these articles conclude different views of the contemporary internet user we can see accurate portrayals in both of them. Prensky’s article suggests that internet users today are using their access to internet to advance technologically and also creatively, on the other hand Weinberger’s article suggests that the internet is affecting our social skills and corrupting our minds. Within society Weinberger’s view is more commonly supported especially among the digital immigrant population. What is far more interesting is the increase of a neutral view of internet users, with experts claiming it’s the user that determines how the internet affects their life and not the other way around. A BBC article titled ‘the effects of the internet on society’ takes a neutral position on how the internet affects us claiming “the Internet is here to stay, and it's really up to us how it affects society and whether it enhances or ruins our life” (BBC 2001). I believe this statement by the BBC to be incredibly accurate, majority of us can admit that we’re addicted to Facebook or Myspace or even YouTube and we always communicating with friends on the web and yet we are still the same people. The affects of the internet I believe depends entirely on the individual. Articles by Barry Wellman (2002) and Angie Guan (2009) support the fact that the internet is a part of everyday life and it’s only growing as technology advances. Barry Wellman’s (2002) article ‘The Internet in Everyday Life’, explains that regardless of the negative opinions of the internet viewed by people within society the internet isn’t going anywhere fast and it’s up to users to determine how they approach it. In the 2009 article ‘Youth Internet use: Risks and Opportunities’ by Angie Guan it is said that there are risks involved in using the internet, like becoming anti-social, socially incapable or even disturbed, but if society solely holds these risks as the only outcome of using the internet that is what’s going to happen. In order for people to be able to overcome the issues on the internet society needs to work together to see the internet as a better place, there will always be risks but the more aware users are the less likely it will occur (Guan 2009) There are internet users out there proving the opinions by Weinberger and Prensky, some of us are using the internet for creativity and technological creations and then some of us are being affected psychologically by the effects of the internet,

So it can be said that while there are varying opinions of the contemporary internet user, both Weinberger and Prensky’s views are accurate because they both identify aspects that internet users can relate to. In saying this, I believe it depends on the user as to how they are affected and the internet can’t hold a single stereotype for every internet user, the web is incredibly broad and so too are the range of internet users. The contemporary internet user cannot ultimately be classified as either of the opinions expressed, but they express aspects that relate to internet users that are present within society.

Reference list
Prensky, M, ‘The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native’ 2004

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-The_Emerging_Online_Life_of_the_Digital_Native-03.pdf (link to display in blog)

Weinberger, D, ‘A New World’ 2002

http://www.smallpieces.com/content/chapter1.html (link for blog)

BBC, ‘The internet’s affect on society’ 2001

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A650684 (link for blog)

The Internet in Everyday Life, Barry Wellman 2002, Blackwell publishers Ltd.

link

Youth Internet use: Risks and opportunities 2009 Shu-Sha Angie Guan

link

Websites related to internet users

This is an article by Cate Swannell on internet users (April 2009)

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/04/03/65695_cate-swannell-opinion.html (accessed 16th October 2009)

Psych Central, John Grohol, ‘Internet Addiction’ 1999

http://psychcentral.com/netaddiction/ (accessed 16^th October 2009)

BBC, ‘Sci/Tech caught on the net’ 1999

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/427674.stm (link for blog)

Implications of the internet on Global society and culture http://www.coolavenues.com/cafe/articles/shubham_1.php3 (link for blog)

Future of the internet and how to stop it blog http://futureoftheinternet.org/

Essay Topic and guidline

Assessment item number three: essay.

We were given 6 options to choose from for our 1000 word essay. below is a summary of all the choices available.
1. Marc Prensky's "Emerging online life of the digital native" and Dave Weinberger's "A New World" both present different views of contemporary internet users. In light of your own experiences with new technologies do you think they are accurate portrayals? Discuss why or why not with specific examples.

2. The idea of the internet as cyberspace has been a part of our contemporary culture for some time, particularly in the popular medium of film. But is the concept of cyberspace still relevant to our contemporary society? Discuss with reference to your own experience of contemporary media.

3. Digital media put the tools of production into the hands of the everyday computer user making it incredibly easy to produce content. These creative skills used to be something that people worked to develop. Now it appears that amateurs can produce content of a fair standard within a relatively short period of time. Where does this leave 'professionals' and highly-skilled artists? Choose one area of creativity and discuss some of the challenges facing practitioners vs amateurs in producing digita lcontent.

4. What are the uses/limits of the internet in terms of politics and/or democracy? Should we rethink the nature of the political? What happens to the nation/state in the age of networks that have the potential to span thewhole planet? What has happened to the idea of "community" in the age of networked digital media? Discuss with an example.

5. Creative Commons is both a solution and yet another failure to deal with authorship and copyright on the internet. Discuss and give examples.

6. Any other challenging topic related to the lectures that is approved by your tutor. To be approved, your topic should be unique and be based in your own interests in the online world and the theory that relates to it.

When it came to choosing the topic for the essay I found that all of the essay appeared to be somewhat confusing in the way they were presented. I ended up choosing option one for my essay: 1. Marc Prensky's "Emerging online life of the digital native" and Dave Weinberger's "A New World" both present different views of contemporary internet users. In light of your own experiences with new technologies do you think they are accurate portrayals? Discuss why or why not with specific examples.

We were provided with a guide for the essay as it was only 1000 words long and we were required to provide ample information with short word limit.

These simple steps will guide you through the essay writing process:

Decide on your topic.

Prepare an outline or diagram of your ideas.

Write your essay statement.

Write the introduction.

Define the terms that you are exploring.

Write the body.

• Write the main points.
• Explain the terms/points with quotes and your own take on these.
  
• Write the subpoints.
• Elaborate on the subpoints.

If possible include an 'If/then' statement of your own to propose a solution or alternative.

Write the conclusion.

Add the finishing touches. eg. References, Bibliography etc. (you have to remember to record where and what you look at/study while preparing to write and while writing)

The great game

So this weeks topic was 'studying video games'... my first thoughts on this lecture was... this is going to be so boring, but as the lecture progressed I was proved wrong.

Video games can be broken down further into specific types, pc games, console games, online games, arcade games and mobile phone games. These types can also be broken down further into first person shooters, puzzle, fitness and many more.

Demographics for video games were originally 18-25 year old males, making up 80% of the gaming market.
In 2005 Neilson active game study conducted new research. They found that there had been a massive boom in 25-40 year old male gamers. So this new data concluded that the 18-40 year old male gamers made up 59% of the gaming market and female games made up 49% which is pretty even.

It was seen that females dominated the mobile phone games and males predominately dominated the remainder aside from arcade games.

Josh raised a very interesting point... video games are very much like real life... you are required to earn, learn just like in every day life.

There are three specific ways to study a video game
1- Social science approach - which is studying the effects games have on people (violence)
2- Humanities approach - which is studying the meaning and context of a game. What is the story the game is trying to tell.
3- Industry and engineering approach - which is the development of games and new technologies.

In the last five minutes we did an experiment testing the three ways to study a video game. There was a male and female gamer volunteer in which Josh quizzed on the types of games they play and then tested out the ways of studying a video game... it was pretty funny overall... and it was established that 'video games have no impact on the people playing them'. It was acutally funnier to watch as many would know.

Evaluation of the course

So the blog task is slowly coming to an end... it's been a long semester with many assignments and exams and with the end being so close I guess we should probably add in a final word in regards to the course.

Over the ten weeks I have so far been enrolled in this course I have learnt numerous new skills about technology advancements, cinematic advancements and even democracy's place on the internet. The lectures have been creative and entertaining... especially the ones given by Jason... he just always managed to give the lecture a quirky edge, especially with his steps to learning software... it was awesome, funniest lecture I've ever had.

Over the last few weeks we've done some pretty awesome activities within tutorials, the ireport movie, the short films, sketch cast, open source software and so many more.

The lectures provided adequate information about each topic, in which the tutorials expanded on, enabling us to learn and take in the content.

I rate this course very highly in academic standards, and I would recommend it to students interested in it in the future.

Art work

So this is something I made for a friends birthday at the beginning of the year. it took me forever to make for her, with the wood being so delicate. It is comprised of her three favourite colours and some of her favourite pictures. I made this primarily becuase when i asked her if there was anything in the world she could have what would it be and she said happiness

How to use software

So this week was meant to be a lecture on cyber-utopia with Jason Nelson, but... instead Jason gave us a lecture on software and how to effectively teach ourselves a new software. He explained a 14 step process of using a software program.

step 1- Find the most simple and easy to use software to do what you want to do.

step 2- Maybe what you think you want to do is not actually what you should be doing. Exploring the software is what learning is all about. Exploring what industry standards and expectations are if search for employment with certain software.

step 3- So you've figured out you need something advance... so how do you teach yourself how to use software in a few days.

Step 4- Software is designed to be deep. Meaning that you might be able to open and save something or re-size or make an audio clip.

step 5- Begin by playing. Make something, anything. The best way to begin learning something is to open it up and look.

step 6- Look at what the common features are, most commonly there will be about 15 - 20% that you already know.

step 7- Save your work. Do not write over the same file, it protects against corrupt files and errors. Make sure to give your work appropriate file names.

step 8- Use the help file if a problem arises.

Step 9- The help section SUCKS. the help tool is not ideal for the beginners.

step 10- Search the problem. Don't start by search the entire web, find a specific site(s) with content and use specific search tools within the site.

step 11- Join forums and ask questions. This is an excellent way of getting answers, only thing is it takes a while to get a response.

step 12- Once you have learnt what to do, don't fear the tutorial book or videos.

step 13- don't take a course just to learn how to use the software, you will learn the same thing that you have just learnt.

Remember that we often learn how to use software to do something specific so it is always about content. The only problem with software is that it is often updated and upgraded quite often which makes learning and maintain certain skill levels difficult.

As you can see from these steps this lecture stood to be quite entertaining... pretty self-explanatory but worth the fun in all.

Political Possibilities

Political possibilities and edemocracy.

When we define Cyberpolitics it means the politics that exists predominately on the Internet.

By Edemocracy we mean the internet's intervention in and contribution to real world politics that exists in mainstream society or off the internet. Edemocracy consists of everything from political campaigning on the internet and the governments use of the internet to raise awareness.

So it can be said that democracy holds large importance on the internet.

Lets consider free speech and censorship...
Deliberation and discussion are key attributes of democracy, maybe talk is the most important element of democratic activity. The ability to convince and the willingness to be convinced are what provide the give and take that makes democracy something for all citizens. And that requires access to free speech.

Is free speech a basic right? In Australia we don't have the constitutional right to free speech... that's Americanism. The battle between free speech and censorship of the internet still prevails...

But where do hackers come into the equation...

Hackers have a bad name... but the word 'hacker' has various meanings that reunite in the work of the hacker: it suggests both cutting through thick foliage and managing or coping with a difficult situation, often with an appropriate application of ingenuity or a creative practical joke. Can you hack it?

Hackers seek to free information.

Political activities

During week 8 we discussed the political possibilities on the internet, so we progresses into searching for political activity within the internet. It's surprising the degree to which politics extends to the internet and the degree which we as community members can access.

Our State, local and Federal representatives consist of:

Local: Member for Southport 4215
Peter Lawlor

State: Queensland's Premier
Anna Bligh

Federal: Prime Minister of Australia
Kevin Rudd

Look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament.

Southport MP Peter Lawlor last spoke on September 22nd.

http://www.peterlawlor.com.au/southport/pages/posts/personal-property-securities-commonwealth-powers-bill4927.php

Let your local member know what you think of their last speech?
I went to peters site http://www.peterlawlor.com.au/southport/ and went to the contact peter link on the left side bar and left him a message there. This link takes you to the confirmation email i received saying I contacted Peter Lawlor http://mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

epetition: I found an interesting current epetition on the Queensland Government website about upholding abortion laws and protecting unborn children. I've attached a link of the page confirming I signed the petition to check out.
EPETITION LINK

Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site.
For this i visited news.com.au and chose the "green blog" and read the latest post titled "we should ignore climate change". For some reason i couldn't find my post after i submitted my comment, but i've copied the link and my screen name is S2715990. Blogger response

what place does censorship have in democracy?

The question that still surrounds censorship and democracy is whether government should play an active role in censorship, (for instance with banning of offensive material for people under 18). But the trouble is that within a democratic society citizens should have access to the full range of debate about political and social life, from sexual practices to the full gamut of political opinion. Any government which stifles such debate is restricting the rights of its citizens. (this information was sourced from http://www.abc.net.au/ola/citizen/stories/trans/program9.htm) So as you can see the topic of censorship and its place within democracy is still an ongoing debate, the need for censorship of material and images is required but the need for the 'freedom of information' that is present in a democratic society is also vital. So I think censorship's place is democracy is restricted.

What do you think of the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")???
I think the concept is a good idea but putting this into action will be alot harder I think. I don't believe the Government can entirely guarantee that only illegal sites will be blocked and not others aswell. Also considering majority of Australians value their freedom especially on the intert, this will prove to be a tricky concept to implement.


what is Barack Obama up to today? I checked out the official White House and Barack Obama's blog to see what he has been up to day, being the 24th of September 2009. Obama chaired the meeting of the United Nations Security Council and gave a speech in international law. You can also view the blog here website

THU, SEPTEMBER 24, 12:50 PM EST

"International Law is Not an Empty Promise"

During this morning's remarks to members of the UN Security Council, President Obama returned to an issue that was a major theme of his trip to the last G20 Summit in Europe: the spread and use of nuclear weapons:

(President Barack Obama chairs a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at the United Nations
headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Software SUmmary

So this week we learnt about open source software...

Sourceforge.net is an excellent site for downloading open source software, with numerous options for specific software needed. As i had recently lost some photos and documents off my memory stick i decided to go for a data recovery software. I downoaded fileExtractor from www.sourceforge.net which is a open source software app that is designed to recover documents that were lost off memory sticks and other hardware devices.

When I first attempted to download the fileextractor the website froze and had to be restarted. After it was restarted there still seemed to be some technical issues with either the website or my internet, so it took forever to try and download the software

When i first downloaded this I had a few dramas getting it to work properly... when I opened the software there was a four step process to recover the lost data, but the software kept freezing on the second step of the process. I had to uninstall the software and redownload it again.

Once I redownloaded the program it worked better. The program took a few minutes to search and analyse my memory stick, but it did come back with positive results.

The software managed to not only find lost and corrupt photo's, but it also found some documents that were also once on the memory stick. Overall I found the program very useful, apart from the technical programs at the begining the program was very simple and self-explanatory to use. I will keep this software for the future incase I need to recovery anything else or I'll pass it on to other people in need of a software of this type. My experience with this specfici software was very pleasing.

Open source software

This week we had Jason Nelson as our lecturer. He was quite amusing actually!!
He discussed open source software with us.

Open source software is considered software than can still be sold but it opens up the code for everyone else to see.

Bit torrent - breaks apart files into lots of smaller files making downloading time faster. A really good example of a bit torrent is "mininova"

When downloading games or movies 'seeds' is normally considered the number of people that are sharing the same file.

Portableapps.com is a series of freeware programs that have been modified to work on a USB stick

Jason gave us a few ideas of websites to use when downloading software and programs.
download.com
sourceforge.net
portableapps.com
freewaregenius.com

from this we were asked to download one or more of the freeware apps that Jason mentioned and write what we think of it... so stay tuned for that one!!

Week 5 tutorial

This is a pretty cool persona test we did from the site below.
http://personas.media.mit.edu/personasWeb.html
it's pretty cool... check it out and try your own name.








So the google maps proved to be quite complex as i wasn't very familiar with using and creating google maps before i attempted this. But here is my map of all my favourite places on the Gold Coast

View My Favourite Places to be :) in a larger map

Now this is AWESOME.... having your sketch draw itself after its done, is amazing. I'm terrible at drawing using a mouse or touchpad but here's my attempt... enjoy guys.

Mobile content

during week 6 lectures we discussed mobile content and the consume and produce elements surrounding it.

the aspect of consume is divided up to two different sections

big screen:
cinema (shared)
television (shared/private)
personal computer (private/shared)

small screen:
personal media player (ipod) -on the go-
mobile phones (ipod touch) "smart phone"
-on the fly-

produce
"produsage"
fan film - biggest form of produsage
film edit - phantom edits

mash up
re genres
re cut
short films
mobile production
cnn (ireport.com)

we visited an excellent website that Josh showed us, which was an example of people/ fans making short films to well known released films. "www.fanfilms.net"

Short Films

I decided to use Pixar as the creator for all three of my short films. Each of these short films have a different element about them that appeals to the audience.



This short film is about a small lamb who has his coat sheered off and is no longer the happy dancing lamb he always was. One day a friendly jackalope comes along and restores the little lamb to his old self.



Alec the rabbit purposely sabotages his magicians performance becuase he hasn't been fed, but the pair end up helping each other out.



This third short film is quite a simple one... it is mainly about a group of small birds who refuse to play with the larger bird.

Not only are these short films entertaining, they also show how Pixar has made cinematic advancements over the years. Coming a long way from the first animated movie to animated short movies. Being able to fully animated short films is genius.
Enjoy the films guys.

WEEK 4...

so week 4 came and went very quickly and soon our blogs will be up for marking :S

well... in the lecture we learnt some interesting history of the cinema.

we began with...
1895 Birth of cinema. they were a collection of twenty, one minute "actions"
20 shows a day were screened and every single one sold out because people had never seen moving images on screen before.

1906 First feature length 'narrative' film which was approximately 60 to 70mins long. The movie was "Ned Kelly - the story of the Kelly gang" made in Australia. 4 years after Australia released the first narrative film Europe followed.

1927 First time dialogue was recorded and played along side moving picture, this was known as 'talkies'.

1929 First all colour movie "on with the show" was released. Recorded and presented in colour.

1933 the first drive in theatre was built

1937 Disney released 'snow white' which was the first full lenght, all colour, singing and animated movie.

1939 Television was released at the New York trade fair.

1952 3D was introduced

1955 Hollywood started selling back catalogues of movies so people could watch movies on tv.

1956 Ampex made the first VCR but it wasn't available for the public to purchase.

1959 Percepto vision "the tingler"

1963 Ampex released consumer VCR which was valued at $30,000. This was also the year of the birth of multiplex theatres or theatres with more than 2 screens. We also saw the birth of 'blockbuster movies'.

1967 Sony introduced VCR and also the portapack so you could walk around and recorded footage and play it back later on.

1972 Pay tv was introduced into America

1985 the first blockbuster shop was opened

1986 Pixar produced the first full lenght CGI film 'luxo junior'

1995 Pixar made the movie 'toy story'

1997 DVD videos were first released

* between 1972 and 1997 internet was released*

2001 Internet films were created
BMW hired the best made short films - 8 short films of 10mins each known as 'the driver' starring Clive Owen.

So that pretty much wraps up the first section of the blog... stay tuned for next week

Scavenger hunt

Week four tutorial tasks... Savenger hunt.

1- What is the height of the world's largest tree? and how long did it take to grow?
Hyperion (a coast Redwood in California) standing 115.5m tall was named the worlds largest living tree in 2006.

http://purpleslinky.com/trivia/science/worlds-tallest-and-largest-trees/ (accessed 20th August 2009)

2- What is the best way to contact Madonna?
You can contact Madonna through her Facebook page listed below
http://www.facebook.com/madonna (accessed 20th August 2009)

3- What is the age of the oldest ever captive elephant? is this age older than in the wild?

Grandpa Lin Wang, the worlds oldest Asian elephant in captivity died in Taipei yesterday. He was 86 years old. This is compared to the average life expectancy for elephants in the wild being 45 years.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/2003/02/27/35337/Oldest-Asian.htm (accessed 20th August 2009)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98129620 (Accessed 20th August 2009)

4- How would you define the world 'Glycomics'? In your own words what does it mean? What does the term 'seagull manager' refer to?
The definition of Glycomics is considered: The systematic study of the structure and function of the complete set of glycans (the glycome) produced in a single organism and identification of all the genes that encode glycoproteins. In general terms this means the study of sugars in molecules inside an organism (living thing)
The term seagull manager refers to "A manager who only interacts with employees to criticize their work or when a problem arises".

http://www.find-health-articles.com/msh-glycomics.htm (accessed 20th August 2009)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Seagull+Management (accessed 20th August 2009)

5- What was David Cronenberg's most recent film?
Cronenberg's most recent feature, Spider (2002),

http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/cronenberg.html (accessed 20th August 2009)

6- When was the original 'Hackers' released?
The movie 'Hackers' was first released in 1995 directed by Ian Softley.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_(movie) (accessed 20th August 2009)

7- Why do phone numbers in Hollywood start with '555'?
the answer lies 30 years ago with the use of exchange names as part of the telephone number was still popular in the USA. Dials had letters as well as numbers and the first 3 letters of the exchange name were dialled followed by numbers. An example might be CENtral 78978. You dialled CEN 78978 or, using all numbers, 236 78978.

It so happened that 5 on the dial corresponded with J K and L and you can’t make any English place names using any combination of J, K and L as the first 3 letters. So the 555 code was allocated to service levels such as Directory Assistance, Operator, Repair Service, etc.

Due to the "low fill" of the 555 code, Hollywood was encouraged to quote 555 numbers in their productions to prevent real subscribers being harassed by members of the public trying out the numbers quoted on the screen.

http://www.telephonecollecting.org/code.htm (Accessed 20th August 2009)

8- What is the cheapest travel from Gold Coast to Cairns?
A flight through jetstar will cost $109 dollars

http://book.jetstar.com/Select.aspx (accessed 20th August 2009)

9- What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1970?
up around the bend/run through the jungle by Creedance Clearwater Revival.

http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1970/1970.html (accessed 20th August 2009)

10- Which Birsbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and Vocals?
the Punk band, Black Assassins is the Brisbane band with Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~toxicoh/blackas.htm (accessed 20th August 2009)

Cinderella Story

This has got to be one of the most amazing chick flicks of all times...

A Cinderella Story (starring Chad Michael Murray and Hilary Duff) is a movie perfect to display the "shots as words" material learnt in week 3.

The 'where' is answered virtually the second the film begins. The movie starts with an establishing shot of 'North Valley', where the main characters live. It utilises a pan shot moving the camera from left to right to give the viewer a greater picture of the setting.

The movie jumps to a close up of 8year old Sam Montgomery (Hilary Duff) in what appears to be a practice cage for baseball (this aspect becomes clearer with the next shot). This close up demonstrates the 'who' aspect in the movie.

The 'what' becomes clearer by following on from the 'who', the shot displays to the audience a young Sam playing baseball with her dad.

As time is a difficult aspect to capture on screen, this shot is not so specific. The only evidence we have of time is a wide shot early on in the beginning showing the sun setting in the distance. Apart from this we as viewers are very unaware of what the actual time is.

The movie flashes to a big close up of Sam showing the eyes and nose demonstrating the 'why' shot. This shot is harder to decipher as the movie begins 7 years earlier and then jumps to the present day once Sam's dad dies.

'language of the screen' - shot variation/ shot sizes

so during the lecture we learnt about various shot sizes and compositions...

during tutorials we had the chance to delve a little deeper into what shot sizes are

so... let us begin.

the 'wide shot': in the wide shot, the subject takes up the full frame. In this case, th

e girls feet are almost at the bottom of the frame, and her head is almost at the top.

the 'mid shot': the mid shot shows some part

of the subject in more detail, whilst showing enough for the audience to feel as if they were looking at the whole subject. In fact, this is an approximation of how you would see a person "in the flesh" if you were having a real conversation.

the 'medium close up': the medium close up is half way between a mid shot and a close up. This shot shows the face more clearly, without getting uncomfortably close.

the 'extreme close up': the extreme close up gets right in and shows extreme detail. You would normally need a specific reason to get this close. It is too close to show general reactions or emotion except in very dramatic scenes.

to find more information on various shots and shot sizes visit mediacollege

here we can see examples of all the most commonly used shots and shot sizes.

LANGUAGE OF THE SCREEN

So week 3...

We learnt about 'language of the screen' and what it meant to us as viewers.

We discussed the various shots that are used within cinema work.

These include:

VLS/WS: very long shot, wide shot

LS: long shot

MLS: Medium long shot

MS: medium shot

MCU: medium close up

CU: close up

BCU: big close up

ECU: extreme close up

We then progressed onto shots as words...

WHO: the close up answers the question of 'who' by showing our character in detail.

WHAT: the mid shot answers the 'what' question by showing your subject performing an action.

WHERE: the long shot is our answer to the 'where' question, at the beginning of a scene it is also known as the establishing shot.

WHEN: both the wide shot and the close up can help us answer the 'where' question. Time can be a difficult thing to capture on the screen.

WHY: the big close up can help answer the 'why' question, usually by revealing more about a character and their actions.

HOW: a single medium close up or a series of close ups can explain an event and answer the 'how' question.

by this stage of the lecture we were becoming more clear with analysing how images can be more than just pictures... how they can literally 'speak' to us, simply as we watch t.v and movies.

but no shot will be quite complete unless the 'rule of thirds' is utilised, especially when it comes to talking room and head space.

'Rule of thirds' is considered the basic principle of breaking an imagine down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. an example can be seen in the picture above

When considering a shot... you need to remember... EVERY SHOT NEEDS TO MAKE A STATEMENT. Every shot needs to move the narrative forward.

stay tuned for more info on language of the screen...

History of Computing and Internet

So as you can see by now week two's lecture was surrounded by learning the history of computers and also the internet.

The computer was first released by IBM in the early 1950's and then the first PC was released in 1975

Xerox parc developed an invention known as the mouse in the early 1970's

The first apple computer sold for $666 .

These are just a few main points learnt from the lecture more information can be sourced from both the history of computing timeline and also the internet history timeline.

stay tuned for week 3... LANGUAGE OF THE SCREEN

History of the internet

The Internet has a vast history... dating back to as early as 1962.
















Computer History Museum

Internet timeline:

1960's
The concept of the internet was developed by the RAND corporation. During this time a group of US scientist were working on a system known as "packet system" which is essentially breaking down of messages and sending them from one computer to another.

1969

The first node is connected to the internet's military ancestor, ARPANET.

1973

The University Colledge of London is one of the first international connect.

1986

Internet newsgroups are formed. Rick Adams at the centre for Seismic Studies releases software enabling news transmission, posting and reading using standard internet connection.

1988

The first internet worm is unleashed by Robert Morris. It infects about 6000 computers, clogging up the internet.

1994

Internet Magazine launches. It reports on London's first cybercafe and reviews 100 websites. Also Jerry and David's guide to the world wide web is remained YAHOO

1995

Ebay is launched, enabling people to use the internet to make purchases.

1998

Google arrives. It pioneer a ranking system that uses links to asses a website's popularity.

2004

As broadband becomes more popular, media companies begin to sell music and videos online. Napster launches as a paid music download store. Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook at Harvard University

2005

The internet starts to threaten television and telephone companies. Youtube is launched which enables people launch videos online.

2006

Twitter is created

All info is sourced from website