Nikolas Fourth Post

This is the post regarding the Fourth Lecture and Tutorial Task
Scavenger Hunt:

Worlds Largest Pumpkin: Found in Yahoo! = The largest pumpkin ever grown is 1,502 pounds. It was grown by Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island. It was weighed in on October 7, 2006 at the Rhode Island Weigh-off.

Best Way to contact Grant Hackett: Found in AskJeeves = if u ever need to contact him u can - Leave a message on one of the posts on the main page- Leave a message in his live journal- Send an email gali@granthackettonline.com

How long is a Giraffe's Tongue: Found in Yahoo = An adult giraffe's tongue is 27" long

Ontology: Found in Yahoo! = Ontology = theory of being

David Cronnenbergs First Feature Film: Foudn in Yahoo! = 1966 short film called "Transfer"

The Hacker Manifesto: Found in Wikipedia = The Conscience of a Hacker (also known as The Hacker Manifesto) is a small essay written January 8, 1986

Why do all phone numbers in holywood start with '555': Found in Yahoo = TO REACH Directory Inquiries for a city in the United States, one dials 555-1212 (preceded by the city's area code if one is calling from elsewhere). I'd speculate that movies' use of 555 stems from this. Otherwise, when the film actor flips open a matchbook and dials a number written within it, the most plausible explanation is that he's calling an amnesiac who has forgotten their own number, but who recommends calling Directory Inquiries to obtain it.

Top of the Australian pop Charts 1965: Found in Yahoo = The Seekers

Stephens band!!!!! I cant find it! All that exists is info on some punk band you wrote for!!!!

What is a Search Engine?

A search engine is like a electronic librarian, Comapnies know that this electronic librarian is really popular with the communisty so they pay to have their websites placed into this library. Then people ask the librarian a few simple questions about what they are looking for, and the librarian runs along and in a matter of seconds finds hundreds of thousands of books, and articles on the quesiton asked.

Search negine rakning systems: One of the the main rules in a ranking algorithm involves the location and frequency of keywords on a web page. Call it the location/frequency method, for short.

The first searhc result you will most likely have the most amnount of the keywords you typed in in it, and in hte same order you typed them ect.. then it filters down.

And of course everyone's favourite search engine is Google, I used to search on Yahoo! but once Google stormed the world I caught on. It also checkes and corrects my spelling and has the largest amount of websites on it. So why use another search engine for general questions. Academic searches I use for assignments and what not.

Five sources of journal articles for my essya topic:

The effect the mobile phone has ahd on the world. How much it is costing everyone for those stupid ringtones, all kinds of accidents that accour as a result of them, their dangers, their cures( like boredom).

Nikolas Third Post

This is my third Blog, based on the third Lecture.

Today, the main discussion was on the advancement of the computer through history followed by the first half of the film, Alphaville. Before entering the Lecture I had read the ninth chapter of the new communications and technologies text book which really went over the same basic material.

The film Aphaville was very interesting. It got me thinking on the dystopian ideas which people have had and still do have about the technological future. It seems that man has always been, and will always continue to be afraid of the 'Rise of the Machines.' Although in so many ways, technology has made our lives easier, more comfortable and arguably cheaper, our growing dependence on it has birthed a very real fear of it within our society. Its almost a 'Frankenstein' effect in that our lives are run by our own creation, not our creation run by us.

Can 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' be seen as a frightening glimpse into the eventual annihilation of the human race? Old, and modern cinema seem to think so with the countless amount of films produced that depict precisely this.

'Neo-Ludism' shares a simillar belief, "Neo-Luddites may claim that technology is a force that is doing or may do any or all of the following: dehumanise and alienate people; destroy traditional cultures, societies, and family structure; pollute languages; reduce the need for person-to-person contact; alter the very definition of what it means to be human; or damage the evolved life-support systems of the Earth's entire biosphere so gravely as to cause human extinction"-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-luddism

"The microprocessor doubles in power and capability every two years"- Adam
Considering this, how long would it be until we see this total domination of machines.... Or are we already seeing it, without actually realizing it. Is hegemony taking place without us realizing. As discussed in the text book, have we been disillusioned into believing that we are still in control and that we do still benefit from our technological advancements when in fact, the technology is controlling and benefiting from us?

Looking at this future from a Christians stand point, Christ would have to return withing the next 100 years. I say, Come! *Yay*

Nikolas Second Post

Pic= (My youth group at Lifehouse Christian Church! Gotta love em!)
This is the blog regadring the Lecture if Week 2!

Hey its my second blog, the time is 10:45 pm and after working all day political economy still has not left my mind.
I'm really trying to understand the language of the text book. I know its one of the easier ones but that knowledge still does not help me understand it as quickly as I would like to.
After studying the definition of Political economy, which essentially describes it as the analysis and knowledge of ownership and control of economics. I think of it as the deeper meaning behind things.

I am understanding it in this way: The way that New Media Companies control their products and how they will deal with the rapid change of culture as a result of technological advancements

&

The way in which new technologies are created by existing technologies. (Dialectic?) These technologies are created by the dialectic of of economical, social and political ideologies which create the dynamic of advancement and change.

I'm hoping this is all making sense...

This week Iv'e mainly been going through the chapters in the text book and learning about Capital which is the accumulation of value and Hegemony which is the domination of one social class by another... Mainly making the lower class feel as though they have it great when in fact the dominant class has it better.

Base, superstructure and mimetic mutation. All these were key points in the third chapter.

What the subject is teaching me so far is that, it is not the technologies themselves that change our society or become more advanced and 'new' but that it is as a result of our society, our political, cultural and social changes and views and advancements that technology is changing, and technology is far more than a new type of computer equipment. Plus I found the view interesting that there is no such thing as 'new' technologies because creating 'new' technologies has been around as long as the human race.

My post for week three is more centralized on one issue and hopefully will be more interesting to read. It isnt just a summary

Nikolas First Post

Hey, First lecture and tutorial today, it was far more boring than I expected... Yes, I did the readings ok! Still, the text book really confused me; Dialectic really has gone over my head. Political economy has swept right over my head. Watched some strange French movie, I am finding it a little confusing about linking the film to what we are learning. I understand the movie targeted Time travel, and I understand that time travel has been a very dominant theme in the cinemas history, but linking it to NEW communication Technologies is just a little baffling.

I’m a musician, so lets hope this somehow helps me out... Hey Im sure Chris is a fan of the good old Greek music, dancing, plate smashing ect... Ill just learn a famous tune on the keyboard and post it on here one day... It’s sure to ramp me up to a distinction!

(I can’t believe how amusing the sound is of twenty or more keyboards being punched at the same time in such an incredible velocity, just sitting back and listening to everyone 'Blog' is quite entertaining.)

I find my lecturer (I still don't know his name) very interesting. His sense of humour is very good, which is always a great quality to see in a lecturer. Better than the shocking 'monotoners' with their monotone. Monotone. I just thought I should write the word monotone one more time there, all on its own, so that after you have read this blog you have seen the word 'monotone' far too many times.

I hope that I will be able to understand the core concepts and ideas behind the subject, I know after reading the textbook I still have not grasped the cores or basics of what this subject wants my mind to focus on. I wish to really get my head around the type of thinking.