May 31, 2007

pretty vegas - final thoughts


so the time is finally upon me to post my final thoughts about new communication technologies for semester 1 2007. i must say that this course has by far been my favorite this semester. i covered topics that i was interested in and also showed me new topics that are quite interesting such as french new wave cinema, cyberpunk and virtual reality. the screenings each week were fantastic and werent things that i would usually watch. so that enabled me to get a new perspective and outlook on other forms of technologies that i wouldnt have thought of if i had not taken this course. overall the content was interesting and i found myself looking forward to what we would learn next. however one thing that i found less interesting was some of the tutorial work. the photoshop and microsoft office tasks were way to easy for me but that is most likely due to the fact that i spend alot of my time using those programs. they could maybe be a bit difficult next time but then again people taking the course might find it hard so its a no win situation. besides that i found the tutorials fun as well as the assessment. the course was enjoyable and i would definetley take it again if i was a doing first year again. stephen stockwell is a great lecturer and i hope i can be in some of his future classes and jules was an awesome tutor. now all that remains is the exam.....................


well that was my final blog post. for those of you who actually read this then farewell

carrisa.

Posted by c a r r i s a at 5:07 PM | | Comments

May 28, 2007

where does it hurt - lecture notes

well here is my last lot of lectures notes ever. its kind of bittersweet but i will post one final blog on my thoughts about that issue at a later time. until then here are the lectures notes for the week 12 lecture on creative commons/free and open source software--------

points brought up included------
Mac vs. PC
iPod

Free Software,Open Source,Creative Commonsiet
  • propary software - software that is owned by the company who sells it
  • source code - usually locked, cant change the program without access to the code

FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE REFERS TO A KIND OF SOFTWARE THAT IS DIFFERENT TO PROPIETARY SOFTWARE IN A NUMBER OF SIGNIFICANT WAYS

founder of the free software foundation is a guy named Richard M. Stallman

MICROSOFT is the main owner of propietary software

  1. FIREFOX is an alternative to internet explorer
  2. OPEN OFFICE is an alternative to microsoft office

we also touched on the lennux operating system and what not but that really doesnt interest me ha um this lecture really didnt interest me. the topic was good but it is not something that i am really interested in. plus the end of primer was confusing.

well thats all. my last post will be soon so until then----
-carrisa

ps. here's a video to end the post



Posted by c a r r i s a at 7:41 PM | | Comments

the breakdown - lecture notes

here are the lecture notes for week 11. the lecture was about Cyberpolitics and here are my notes........

Digital Divide
The major issue in all discussions of cyberpolitics is the digital divide: only some people have access to computers and even less to the internet, so how can everybody's interests be represented in on-line debate?

On-line Democracy
It is important to distinguish between the idealist view of a democracy on the web encompassing all citizens (cyberdemocracy) and the democratic uses of the internet to improve the quality of access to existing democracy.

Defining Democracy
The 1980s saw the near-universal triumph of liberal democracy and its representative institutions.Some apparently simple definitions of democracy continue to inform popular discussion: the rule of the many ; the rule of the majority and; 'government of the people, by the people, for the people' are three common formulations.

Gaps in the Mass Media
The increasing concentration, centralisation and commercialisation of the mass media appear to have foreclosed avenues for democratic participation in currently existing representative democracy. However, a number of theoretical counterpoints and interventions suggest that there may be ways in which the arena of deliberation, or the public sphere, may be extended via the application of new communication technologies and a better appreciation of the power of the audience.

Free Speech and Censorship
'The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. '- John Gilmore

Black Holes
Although it is theoretically possible to slow time by an infinite amount and almost bring it to a standstill you can never reverse it. Time is halted, however, in Black Holes. This is because gravity dilates time. The gravity on a neutron star is already enormous, and if you shrink the star even further there comes a point where you will reach an almost infinite time warp. A clock on the surface of that shrunken neutron would appear to be completely frozen in time - if we could see it.

We also watched this movie called Primer. It was extremely confusing but I managed to make out that they were time travelling or something. I did some further research on the movie in order to understand it better and here is what I found -
  • Primer is a 2004 independent film written, directed, produced by and starring Shane Carruth. A sci-fi puzzle thriller, it explores the effects of an accidental invention on its two creators.

  • Famously produced for $7000, the film played at festivals, collecting the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2004, before receiving a limited release.

  • There is about 9 timelines in the film and I think that is really crazy and confusing but here is a diagram to explain them. Source is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primer_(film)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/PrimerTimeline.gif

okay and that is all there is for now. this is like one of my last blogs for this class but i write about that later.

until next time
carrisa.



Posted by c a r r i s a at 10:06 AM | | Comments

May 21, 2007

anyone but you - lecture notes



ladies and gentleman, boys and girls it is now time to publish my lectures notes on the topic known as cyberpunk. this topic interested me with it's interesting topics such as cities as machines lol anyways enoufh of my sillyness and onto my notes -



  • Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre based in the possibilities inherent in computers, genetics, body modifications and corporate developments in the near future. The word comes from the amalgamation of Cybernetics and Punk.

  • The term cybernetics comes from the Greek kybernetes which means steersman or pilot and the concept developed during and after WWII to indicate the use of a systematic approach to complex issues such as managing a large number of computers at distributed sites or understanding the operationms of the brain.

  • Punk was represented in the music of bands such as Sex Pistols, Clash & Black Assassins

William Gibson is a US/Canadian writer whose fictional work has spawned a number of key concepts like 'cyberspace' and 'virtual reality'.


cyberpunk THEMES



  1. Technology and Mythology

  2. Utopia and Dystopia

  3. Cities as Machines

  4. Technological Change

  5. Modernism to Postmodernism

and those were my notes for cyberpunk.


we also watched a movie starring jude law and jennifer jason lee; this movie was eXistenZ. it was directed by canadian director david cronenberg who also directed a history of violence. overall i thought the movie was interesting and i really didnt see that ending coming. quite a good little twist. here is a little snippet from wikipedia.org about the interpretation of the movie-



  • the story is based on the confusion between reality and virtual reality as the characters move in and out of a quasi-organic role-playing computer game called eXistenZ, the aim of which is unknown. The players are linked to the virtual world of the game by a console that resembles a living lump of animal tissue which is connected to the player's nervous system through a 'bio-port' drilled in the player's lower back; however, near the end of the film the gamers seem to be connected to the virtual world by electronic devices connected to their heads and wrists. The ending, immediately following that switch into what appears to be a real world in which gamers were merely playing virtual reality, with electronic devices on their hands and wrists, leaves open the question of how many layers of virtual reality are still left between characters and the real world.

well thats all for this blog there isnt anymore
carrisa.

Posted by c a r r i s a at 10:50 AM | | Comments

another thin line - lecture notes



okay it's time to catch up on lecture notes lol so here are the lecture notes from lecture 7 which was about games theory-------


Video Games Studies includes the following types of games:
Arcade
Games
Consoles
Computer
Games
MUDs
MMOGs


  • Narratology vs Ludology vs ... ?
    Narratology is the study of video games from the perspective of them being stories or literary works.

    Ludology, in contrast to narratology, is concerned with the Game Play elements.

there was also some stuff on what is real and what is virtual? those questions to me are so broad it would take me forever to even begin to answer them. lol so that was my lecture notes on games. it wasnt really a topic that interested me considering i haveny played my playstation in like a year. it's collecting dust. lol


until the next lot of notes.
carrisa.

Posted by c a r r i s a at 10:40 AM | | Comments

darkness round the sun - tutorial task



so this weeks tutorial task involved microsoft excel. that program seriously annoys me lol i had to do an accounting assignment the other week and had to use excel and it would not co-operate with me but luckily for me excel did indeed co-operate today. we started with the basics of excel which was entering data and doing formulas and what not and that is seriously the easiest thing in the world. next we did some graphs of the data we had entered and that is easy as well. a little to easy if you ask me but that's only because i have done it like a million times before due to taking business at school for three years. the final part of this weeks task was about macros. the good thing is i had never used marcos before so it was basically a new learning experience and a good one at that. i found marcos quite easy to grasp and overall the task was good. now onto my review of the task. i found it way to easy. there was nothing difficult about it lol thats only because i have experience in excel which is lucky for me. this program will be extremely useful to me in the future as i am also doing a business degree and excel will be used frequently in assingments. yay for me.

well this blog for this task is over for now but i will post a video to end it with and that video will be kelly clarkson's new song titled 'never again'. til next blog

carrisa.


Posted by c a r r i s a at 10:30 AM | | Comments

May 14, 2007

pick up the pieces - tutorial task


well i actually did this week's tutorial task and it only took me like 25 minstues. it involved microsoft word and using new features within the programs. most the things i had already knew thanks to studying computer studies and business at school. the one thing i didt know how to do prior to this task was the mail merge thing but i found it quite easy to work out and use. it might come in handy in the future. the overall task was a good idea for those who werent to sure how to use microsoft word and some of it's features but for those of use who do it was a nice refresher course. microsoft word is very useful to me as i am a windows user (next computer i buy is a mac though!!) and it usually the program in which i do all my word processing.


so that was this weeks task and to end this blog entry i will post a little video clip of..............................one of my favorite tv shows grey's anatomy.



okay until the next entry which will be me catching up on lectures notes.....peace out
carrisa.

Posted by c a r r i s a at 10:26 AM | | Comments

About me

  • I'm c a r r i s a
  • From Robina, QLD, Australia
  • hey ya'll :) i'm carrisa and this is my blog....well atleast my blog for new communication technologies..... my interests include music,movies,tv,celebrity gossip,fashion and a lot more.....
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