Topic 1 Week 2: 'Upgrade Culture'

As with any new technology, there comes the 'hype' around it as page 2 of Lister et.al. suggests. However a majority of this hype can be started off or helped along by the big businesses who produce the new media and technology. At the end of the day, they want to make a profit, so they want to make their products sound and look as desirable as possible.
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Looking at it in another way, we are a nation of consumers who want instant gratification and the businesses are helping to forfill this. Once we have the latest gadget, it automatically becomes out of date within weeks, because our hunger for more and more advanced technology does not stop. We always want the latest phones, laptops or computer software because they will always offer something different to what we already have. When we see them we feel that we need these luxuries, when in reality we could live without them.
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Social pressures also have some influence on the rate of our 'upgrade culture'. People feel like they should conform to society or their group if they do not already have the technology as they feel 'left out'. One social theory is the "Risky Shift Phenomenon" discussed by Hogg and Vaughan (Social Psychology, 4th ed, 2005). This is when people will accept the collective ideas and likes as part of a group, when they would not as an individual.

Week 2: Interactive Websites/ Hypertext

2.2) Another topic Dave thought we could discuss is websites that invite the user to have an interactive role. One of the first websites to spring to mind is YouTube- Its slogan is 'Broadcast Yourself' which basically sums up the nature of the site. The interactions on offer allow you to upload as many different videos as you like on whatever subject you wish, people can comment and rate them. If you sign up you have extra interative features avaliable to you, as you can have a list of favourite videos and/or channels amongst many other things. "It fits the textbook definition of web 2.0, the hypothetical next generation Internet where people contribute as easily as they consume..." Boutin (slate.com, 2006). This guy Boutin also has his own theory that sites such as this are successful because they combine easy usability and they dont tell you what to do. I think this is true, the more people are allowed to create and control these sites and make their own 'space' on them, the more they will use it- just like all of us who are always on Facebook!
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Another site is LambdaMOO. I actually came across this site last week when I was researching into MOOs and what they were. The idea is that you navigate yourself around a virtual house, and in each room is a chatroom where you can join in topics of discussion or make up your own. There are also a set of common commands different to those you can find on the likes of msn, to make the interactivity of the website slightly different than others e.g. :SMILES indicates to everyone in the chatroom that you're smiling, @parties will show which rooms more people are talking in. To me it seems like a weird mix of the sims and chatrooms! Do any of you use this site or know anyone that does, apparently its REALLY popular?!
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2.3) Hypertext makes surfing the Internet much simplier and useable for those who are not so 'techy!' By offering hyperlinks to different pages or different sites altogether highlights to the user the variety of information on offer to them over the World Wide Web. However, ther can be a downside to this...for some it can end up becoming quite confusing, because you can keep clicking on to sites one after the other and end up completely lost and have no idea where you originally started out!

There's another blog done :D xx

Topic 2/3 Week 2: Web Forums and Blogs

Learning a unit and having discussions about it online is (to me) a very advanced way of communicating. I think a lot more thought goes into participating in online seminars because all communication is 'recorded' on the internet. We are doing what we usually would in a seminar, however I do find the discussions to be much more formal- whether it is just because we are reading it rather than hearing it I dont know. It does change the nature of communication and ultimately our learning, because we are engaging in the medium and learning to navigate ourselves around it as we are talking about it. Hopefully, like with most practical learning, we will gain a deeper understanding about NMCs because we are consuming and analysing at the same time.
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Spacing this activity out over a week obviously does change the way we interact with each other. Firstly, we are not having face to face conversations so the length of time between responses is increased. Secondly, you do seem to take it in turns to voice your opinions- its a kind of online etiquette- unlike in a normal seminar room where everyone is butting in and trying to air their views before the discussion moves onto the next topic.
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In the forum there is a common understanding that it is the tutor who has authority, as it is apparent on any comments we make by using "DAK" at the beginning of the title for example. The forum itself is more like a 'normal' speech conversation compared to written blog posts; it seems more laid back, so everyone feels ok about asking questions and quickly popping on to say they've written a post.
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The last consideration of this task is 'do you have the knowledge to be a user...' I think that anyone has the right to be a user whether they have the knowledge or not, but its the way you feel about using the 'channel of communication' that will make you a user or not. At this stage I am by no means an advanced user because I've only made 4 posts so far! However thinking about it- what is an advanced user? because for different people an advanced user could have varying levels of competency...if you get what I mean. Ok so that's the end of my waffling for now!!

Topic 2: 'What's New about New Media?'

After reading Goebbel's speech, I think it is hard for any of us in the 21st Century to truely understand how important radio was back in the 1930's to both public and politician, because we have such a wide variety of new media avaliable to us nowadays.

I do agree with him when he states "It is not possible for radio to ignore the times" as it is still true today. If you look at BBC Radio, all of its broadcasts on Radio 1, Radio 2 etc now cater towards different age groups because long gone are the days where the whole family will listen to the one radio station together and enjoy it.

This speech proves what a clever propagandist Goebbels was. When he approaches the subject of "a series of important reforms in the organisation and content of the radio..." he was really thinking about the great potential there could be to influence Nazi views on the broad masses, the more of them that had radio in their homes- which looking back is very scary. The good thing is that in the modern day, most of us are a lot more 'media savvy' and aren't influenced as easy as people in the 1930's...I hope!

Topic 1: Communication Forms on the Internet

I find it hard to believe that people actually lived without the Internet! It has now become part of our everyday lives, and we just take it for granted that we can just pop on and scroll through millions of sites. However, I know I havent experienced half of what the Internet can offer me.

I have just been looking through the list of communication forms in the Week 1 study guide and thought I haven't a clue what a 'IRL' or a 'MUD & MOO' is! However, after reading Lister et al and 'Googling' them I realised that I did know what they were but just didnt know their techy names. I would imagine this would be the case for many who use the Internet.

Generally I just use the Internet for email, Facebook, banking and websites for uni work. Although I think that chat rooms and online gaming are revolutionary in terms of communication, I am a little sceptical about using them myself. Personally, I do not like the idea of interacting with complete strangers even if it is in a 'virtual world' where they cant see you...even posting this for all to see I dont like (even though it isnt very interesting!) Perhaps I am a little too careful, but I do think that people should think more about what they put on the Internet and who they are actually communicating with!

Here we go...!

Hi team! Just thought I'd have another go at this posting business, because I haven't tried it since before Christmas.

I haven't got much to write at the moment, apart from I am very confused with all this!! but hopefully I'll get the hang of it.