Summary

Well I'm going to put it out there... I am not, nor will I ever be one of them computer type people. My computer skills go as far as typing essays and searching the internet.

This course has opened me up to a new world of terms and definitions that I will never fully understand and will probably immediately forget. A course that was not for me. Some tasks were fun, some boring and others irrelevant.

I found tutorials enjoyable but sometimes felt that they were unorganised due to the swapping of tutors and the tutesparks and lecture notes being posted up late. I enjoyed the tute discussions and listening to what people had to say on certain topics, for example who has control over what you put up on FaceyB.

One major problem I had with the course was the culture jamming task. Although I said I would do it, the most I actually did was post the news article on my blog. Although it is fun to make up a completely false story, I find it ethically wrong and somewhat illegal to fabricate a story which could potentially ruin a future career, that being mine or the person we wrote about.

I sometimes got a little bit confused as to what we actually needed to post on our blog and what outside things we could have posted to make it more interesting. Also some of the tasks were a bit vague and I wasn't sure with some questions whether it was my opinion or whether I had to research things. I think it needed to have a bit more structure and the tasks that we had to do for it could have been a bit more enjoyable. However, the blog is a great idea. I really enjoyed keeping a blog and will probably keep one in the future.

As a hole, I think the course needed to be a bit more organised and have a better structure. I think with a little bit more structure and organisation will help improve the course.

What To Choose?

Ok, so for this week we had to choose what essay topic we were going to do and why. I've decided to do question 6.

6. Increasingly mobile devices are an aid to the gathering and reporting of information, both by professional journalists and "citizen journalists". Outline the advantages and disadvantages of this sort of news gathering. How might it impact on journalistic practices and news values and ethics?

Personally, I think it has both advantages and disadvantages. Firstly, a mobile device is a quick and easy way of gathering news and quite handy if something happens unexpectedly. However, some journalists may use their mobiles to fabricate information, so therefore it is untrustworthy and can would be ethically wrong if used in such a way. It would be interesting to research this matter further and that is why I chose this topic. I think I would begin researching this by first finding a book that states journalists ethics etc. and defining what citizen journalists are (although I'm pretty sure of what they are) and then going from there.

To Infinity and Beyond!...Or Not

So back to the task for this week. I chose the topic Corporate Control Over Society.

Corporate Control Over Society: Cyberpunk almost always has an ever powerful controlling entity that directs society. Most often this is represented as a corporation. Some times its simply an ever present singular government. A common theme for corporate control involves a futuristic dystopia, where the last traces of high civilization exist only in an enclosed and protected city, where civil liberties are removed under the guise of protecting humanity.

I took this bit from the tutespark blog which was plagerised from here

Ok so I'm not sure if I have done this right, (I'm not even sure if I'm anywhere near the right track)but the main thing is I tried. I tried. Here's my article.

UK government aims for paperless Hybrid society within four years

UK prime minister Gordon Brown has announced plans to create a paperless hybrid society by delivering job centre, passport, driving licence and benefit administration flying human cross-breads online to residents of Britain within the next four years.

Outlining his vision of a 'Digital New Britain' in a speech earlier this week, Brown revealed plans for MyGov God– a personalised web portal flying creature for each UK citizen that would give them access to a raft of direct government services online.

According to the Prime Minister, the government could save £900m (A$1.47bn) a year simply by equipping UK residents who don't have high-speed internet access with broadband with hybrid creatures that could have a direct link with the government. Brown said: "We know that for every transaction with a public service that is done online with one of our hybrids rather than over the telephone we can save around £3.30 in administration and staffing costs. 
"And using them (the hybrids) internet rather than filling in paper forms or writing letters can typically save £12 each time."
However, the British Printing Pro Human Industries Federation (BPHIF) has warned that a paperless hybrid state could, also turn out to be a "faceless one" if the government's plans go ahead.

 Andrew Brown, corporate affairs director at the BPHIF, said: "Unless they (the hybrids) technology is are willing to obey their owner well thought through, people will be disinclined to use it and will resent government efforts to force them to.

"However, at least the government has admitted that its aim is to save money through this initiative, rather than giving us some greenwash about saving the planet. So hopefully we don’t have to remind them that paper comes from a renewable source. So hopefully nothing will happen with a mixed society.”

Article from here and made up bits taken from this story here

Which One Bligh, Public or Private?

The new 'public' hospital being built in Southport is NOT going to be a public hospital.

The new hospital will be private. Anna Bligh has been hiding the truth about this private hospital for a long time. She knew it would cause much controversy with many Queenslander's, especially Gold Coaster's.

The work on the new hospital is progressing with 570,000 working hours completed to date resulting in the completion of the basement to the main building and the commencement of the Lower Ground level. Road infrastructure upgrades are well underway including the construction of the new internal road network within the site.

main structure of the project is beginning to grow out of the ground and will grace the parkland skyline in the not too distant future. Even all the workers at the hospital were under the impression that this was a public hospital.

Some builders and other tradesman have left the job, as they don't want to be involved with Anna Bligh's lies.

"Anna Bligh is clearly a liar and blackmailer, this hospital should be public and not private. Obviously she knows that, that's why she covered the truth," said Bill Smart, a plumber working at the construction site.

"Parking charges have formed part of the negotiations with Queensland Health endeavoring to keep the cost to the public to a minimum,

negotiations are also underway for an operator of the adjoining private hospital," said Anna Bligh two weeks ago.

Anna Bligh continued "the Gold Coast Hospital will assist the general public with their needs, and in particular the growing area of Southport."

Southport residents are furious with Anna Bligh's scandal and want something to be done about it.

"I still can't believe this, we were in need of this public hospital. Most of the people in this area cannot afford private health insurance, Anna Bligh knows this too. We are very disappointed", said Jayne Porter, a local in Southport.

Anna Bligh thought that because we already had a public hospital in Southport, it would be pointless building another one. She made sure that she and the people who worked for her kept their mouths closed. Therefore, the drama wouldn't be as bad once the hospital was eventually built.

Consequently, Anna Bligh and her publicists did not want to comment on the matter.

Written by, Jessica Barker and Bronwen Phillips

Cyber-Screwed

For our task this week we have to combine a news article with a cyberpunk fiction story, that is about the topic we have chosen from a list. I chose Corporate Control Over Society.

Before ever doing this course and if I had ever heard of the word "cyberpunk", I would have guessed the term would have meant some sort of cross between Ashton Kutcher's tv show, Punked and the internet. So being "punked" online. (Don't ask me how.) I have read and re-read many definitions of Cyberpunk and I'm afraid to say I still do not get it! I think I am one of those people that never will. But, I think it is a mixed genre, which expresses ideas of humanity and technology, (erm) combining in the future. (I am shocked there is one but, Thanks cyberwiki).

Sourced from here

As for the lecture, well I have no hope! I grasped the term of Virtual Reality as I have heard this before. But Virtual Rationality?? Nope, never. I think I may need to re-read the notes to get some sort of inkling of what that was about. The virtual language was interesting. Some of the key concepts used, well, I would have never have thought they were part of the virtual language.

Mo to the Zilla

David Hyatt and Blake Ross created Mozilla firefox. It is a free and open source web browser.

Source from here

Before my computer got fecked and my brother bought a Mac (and safari), which I use frequently searching the ol' internet, Mozilla is what I used quite often instead of Internet Explorer. It wasn't that much different from Internet Explorer except for the fact it loaded a bit quicker. Back in the day it was the Jizz!

Here is a little something I found which shows people's opinions on firefox.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070820030616AA6oCRW