Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts

Analogue Media

Sunday, October 11, 2009 by jotaylor

At work I have the task of fixing the photographic machine, which most of the time involves simply changing the paper and ribbon to make it work again. This got me thinking back to my first 203 tutorial and the discussion of whether or not ‘analogue media’ would disappear. I can agree that with the rise in digital culture that there was certainly a decrease in the consumption of analogue media such as buying records. However this does not make me conclude that analogue media has disappeared.

As a nostalgic ideal I do not believe that analogue media has been forgotten or indeed will be forgotten. For example chemical photography is still being taught at most schools along side digital photography. This brings me back to fixing the photographic machine, as even though the machine is a digitalized process it still requires a mere human to fix it.

Looking toward to the future, I do not believe that analogue media such as chemical photography will be forgotten as the basics of the photographic process are used to develop new photographic machines. Many people prefer the tangible photograph to a computer file, however it is debateable as to whether tangible photographs may also be on their way out.

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Information Saturation and Filtering

Saturday, October 3, 2009 by ltop

Gergen claims that we have become saturated with information through technology and one must wonder if this is good or bad. With all the new ways of accessing information on the internet the amount of information available at the click of a button is unprecedented. I think that it can be good or bad depending on the situation. For e.g. searching for something such as which Asian restaurant to eat at gives you a list of a thousand different places, each claiming to be the best. What do you do with that? Most users are not adept at information filtering so all this information is a bad thing at the end because you end up choosing randomly anyway, without much basis behind your choice. For a research student on the other hand, all this information can be a God send. What would previously take you weeks to look up in a library can now take you hours through journal sites, conference sites, Google Scholar, etc.

The good arguments more or less say that new media has enabled a gold mine of information. While the bad arguments focus on the fact that it is very difficult to distinguish between good/correct and bad/incorrect information and that knowing a little bit about a subject can be worse than not knowing anything at all (and it's almost impossible to look at every bit of information about a subject).

So the issue of information saturation is how we filter the information. The tech is out there (for example recommender systems) and the Internet is not going anywhere. All this information is staying whether we like it or not, so the best way to go about dealing with information saturation is by researching filtering tech.

In 2006, Larry Page (one of the founders of Google) said: "People always make the assumption that we are done with search. That's very far from the case. We're probably only 5 percent of the way there. We want to create the ultimate search engine that can understand anything ... some people could call that artificial intelligence." (Link)




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Caught on Facebook

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 by flyboi



While at work I began talking to my boss about Facebook. Recently we had a increase of absentees and my boss began to joke about checking their Facebook pages. This got me thinking about whether or not he should be allowed or had the right to check it out. I questioned him and he said why not, its public and since he has access, he has the ability to look into what they put on their pages. I then began to wonder whether he’s been checking my page out whenever I called in sick, I have to admit I have pulled "sickies" in the past and began wondering whether he’s looked me up in Facebook to see whether or not I was legitimately absent due to medical reasons.

I agree with Boyd and that the cost of social convergence is our privacy, we lose the control over information, for instance the newsfeeds on Facebook, although all the information was public for anyone to see, it wasn’t as exposed and in your face as it is now, it’s all somewhat advertised so whenever you make a change to your page, add a group or leave a comment on someone’s page it’s like “HEY, LOOK I JUST DID!” I guess I have to agree that whatever information we choose to upload online it should be accessible and to anyone, but maybe only those who I choose to.

I know that the internet is a public place and if I choose to upload something then I should be prepared for others to see it. Or if you still don’t have the balls then use a fake name lol. It’s like wearing a hideous knitted jumper I got for Christmas from my grandmother, when I wear it out while shopping I can’t really stop people from staring because I chose to wear it out where everyone can see me, so if you choose to put info up online then be prepared for people to read. One thing is sure, I’m going to be a lot more cautious the next time I call in sick.

The boss might be watching!

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Relationships with Technology

Sunday, September 27, 2009 by jotaylor

After my computer showed me a lovely blue screen in the middle of writing my assignment, I have decided that technology and I do not have a good relationship. As was mentioned in our first lecture, relationships with technology can sometimes be irritating. However most of the time, I believe technology is truly marvellous.

For example, Skype an easy to use online video calling website, which is free, and designed to allow Skype members to keep in touch. Is an easy way to maintain long distance relationships and does not offer the extras that other networking sites require such as creating detailed profiles which in contrast social networking site Facebook does. Facebook allows relationships to be made or continued, and suggests that users create an extensive identity online as a way of expressing their personality, not just a means of keeping in contact.

Another instance of bad technology use for me was miraculously deleting 250 odd photos and please don’t suggest simply checking the recycle bin, it is still a tender subject. So, should I be ashamed of this relationship I have with technology considering I am a 21st century person living in the digital age? I consider how you use the technology you have to be of importance, whilst also allowing for good and bad days.

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Cyborgs and Technobodies

Thursday, August 27, 2009 by ltop

I was quite shocked to hear that people nowadays can actually play Ping Pong using just their brain. Looking deeper I found that there are several ways in which the machine can interact with our brains, which I find a bit disturbing. I mean, what's next? Are people going to start wearing brain censors to read each others’ minds? I do not like the idea of that at all. A mind can often start wandering and do we actually want people to read those private thoughts?

On the other hand, there are some positive sides as well, for example for people with the "locked-in syndrome". Some experiments were carried out using a brain-computer interface, providing a new communication channel between the human brain and the computer. One at a time, a letter would pop up on a screen and brain activity would be stronger when the letter the person wanted to use popped up. They could then write words or ever sentences with this program.

Many more examples of this type of research can be found here (link).

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Gender Technology+Cyborgs

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 by jotaylor

A horrifying moment at work for me recently was the discovery that we are selling the boy/girl gender pregnancy tests. This sort of technology (DNA predicting technology to be exact), is a gender test which states that it produces a 90% positive result in testing the gender of an unborn foetus.

The first thing people notice about our identity is our gender, and if a person’s gender is doubtful then there is immediate unease within the social scene. As we are currently seeing in the news with winning South African athlete, Castor Semenya who has been submitted to a gender test. As she is considered to look manly, it has also been revealed in a previous test that Semenya had a testosterone level three times that of normal women.

Semenya like many other athletes constantly aims for higher, faster, stronger and above all self enhancement. I would like to suggest that these athletes are after an improved self or in reality a genetically modified self. And by using enhancements which involve DNA altering technology, these athletes are actually a form of cyborg. Not a sci-fi cyborg which stereotypically involves alienation, but involving extension to the body through the addition of technology. Cyborgs are also reliant on technology to survive, as in this case athletes are dependent on technology to expand their careers. For example machines which monitor their bodies allowing them to improve their performance.

I suppose in the end, in this day and age it is ‘the image that counts.’ So what do you think male or female? There is a fifty-fifty chance, right?

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Dependency or Normality?

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 by Katie


Spurred on by this article, I've been thinking about the role of digital technology in our everyday lives and whether or not we are dependent on it or is it so engrained in our society now that it is normality?


Psychologists have found that technological dependency is an authentic addiction, on par with alcohol and drug addiction. However as technology evolves and becomes essential to everyday life, does this addiction become irrelevant? Arguably, if everyone that spent 13 hours a week online (as stated in this article, in my opinion an easily achievable feat, especially if your job required this) were classed as addicted then we'd have a seriously troubled society right?!


So maybe this isn't an addiction or dependency but the way forward for the future? I guess that's something only time will tell.

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