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.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
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.
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
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
(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)
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)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
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.
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!!
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!!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
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.
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"
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.
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.
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