NCT Blogg 8

Task 1
Complete the Exercises below, and then write a report in your blog about your experience doing the exercises; were there any problems ? what were your solutions? Did you find it too simple, or was it confusing? Can you see how this software might be useful to you?
Exercises: Word_Bold, Italics, Underline and Bullets, Headers, Footers and Double Spacing, Track Changes, Mail Merge; Excel_Entering and Presenting Data, Formulas

Both word and excel are very useful software applications in providing presentations in a professional style, sending bulk mail, documenting changes to legal contracts and many more forms of documents. Being able to use the applications allows the choice of formatting styles within the document and increases efficiencies. Solutions to problems that occur can be sourced from the help assistant icon. The directions to execute the exercises were easy to follow and would become second nature with constant use.

Task 2
What are the qualitative differences between the regular IM program and a 3D environment?
What is different about the kinds of socialising that happens in these spaces? Does the 3D aspect make much difference? In other words, are there things that are possible in one space that are not possible in the other? Could you think of where this sort of application might lead us?

IM is a text-based medium of communication in almost real-time with people who you know; like friends and family from your contacts list. The synchronicity of the communication between the users happens before your eyes. The communication is effective and efficient with immediate acknowledgement/reply. The cost is effective because it is free over the internet. Some IM features allow you to see the other person you are talking to, with web cams. Used as a medium for communication, IM has a social function and an entertaining function. IM is purposeful and simplistic as a form of communication.

In a 3D chatroom world, communication is not limed to who you know as in IM. Communication in 3D chatrooms develops between strangers. Games can be played in virtual worlds. 3D chartrooms can be used as a means of social active entertainment. The communication can be anonymous because, as a user, you can create an identity of choice either similar to your own or worlds apart, both in character and in how you communicate. The 3D chatrooms have more variables and more choices to consider than IM. The anonymity of the communication could lead to a person exhibiting uninhibited behaviour, both in a positive or a negative form. Children who visit chatrooms can become potential victims to sexual predators.

NCT Blogg 7

Your Task today is to find two wikipedia articles/entries about unrelated topics that you know something about. That might be a movie, a sport, a type of car, a particular musical artist, a Television show, a particular hobby or past time... Something that YOU are an expert on.

Task one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_assistant

Personal Assistant

Is this an aaccurate article?_The article is general and informative covering minimal basic facts needed to understand the topic. This article needs additional citations for verification. Wikipedia content is intended to be factual, notable, verifiable with external sources, and neutrally presented, with external sources cited, Wikipedia content is intended to be factual, notable, verifiable with external sources, and neutrally presented, with external sources cited, none of which are presented in this article. The article is biased and requires professional human resource criteria to be presented with the addition of salary expectations and employment opportunities from recruitment statistics. Tesimonials from personal assistants giving specification to duties performed and job satisfaction would be interesting to add to the article.

Task 2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_twist

French Twist
Is this article accurate? No, this article is a stub and opinions are not verifiable facts. Wikipedia content is intended to be factual, notable, verifiable with external sources, and neutrally presented, with external sources cited and this article ,none of which are presented in this article. It does not accuarately cover the basic facts or instructions to replicate the design, however the picture does give a general idea of one expected outcome. The article is subjective and requires proffesional instructions with step by step diagrams and photograps.

NCT Blogg 6

How do the ideas from Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" apply to contemporary digital media?

Mass reproduction enables all people, not only the elite to appreciate art while not in the immediacy of the art and perhaps without the aura as it was appreciated prior to "Mechanical Reproduction".

There was a time when "Art" was made by artists who were skilled professionals. Now that anyone with a computer can create things digitally (music, images, videos, etc), what does that mean for "art"?

Digital media can influence peoples perception more readily and in a much faster time period.

Art is defined in a broader sense today and skilled professionals have a larger medium to choose from. Digital technology has broadened the boundaries of "Art".

Is a photoshopped image "authentic"? Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?

A photoshoped image in not "authentic". Digital "things" have no "aura" in Benjamin's terms because there is no presence of the original subject or original existence of the production.

"From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the “authentic” print makes no sense. But the instant the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics.

One might subsume the eliminated element in the term “aura” and go on to say: that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art. This is a symptomatic process whose significance points beyond the realm of art. One might generalize by saying: the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence."

NCT Blogg 5

Task 1
Answer these questions without using google or wikipedia! Try some different sources. Write a post in your blog with the answers, and include the source of the information. How do you know that the place you got the answer is accurate?

1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
Riomel Lamores http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,2078842,00.htm

2. Who invented the paper clip?
Johan Vaaler 1899.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/287063
Samuel B. Fay in 1867
http://www.officemuseum.com/paper_clips.htm

3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?
The virus gets its name from a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first recognized.
http://ebola.emedtv.com/ebola-virus/from-what-place-did-the-ebola-virus-get-its-name.html
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
1960 Chile earthquake
http://www.extremescience.com/GreatestEarthquake.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7311945.stm

5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
1073,741,824
http://www.dis.unimelb.edu.au/staff/tanya/hwtute/How_to_measure_data/measure.htm

6. Who is the creator of email?
Ray Tomlinson 1972
http://www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/email.html


7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?
Computer Virus
Although it's most commonly called a worm, Storm is really more: a worm, a Trojan horse and a bot all rolled into one. It's also the most successful example we have of a new breed of worm, and I've seen estimates that between 1 million and 50 million computers have been infected worldwide.
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/10/the_storm_worm.html


8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of Australia directly, what is the most efficient way?
In writing
http://www.aph.gov.au/contact/index.htm

9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?
Black Assassins
http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm

10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?
Transition on the Web becoming more user friendly

Task 2
How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
A Mirror page is also called an entrance page, or information page. Generally what it means is a web page that is specifically created containing more relevant keywords in a single page in order to rank higher on the "spider" search engines.
http://www.infolink.bz/html/mirror-pages.html
Keywords play a huge part in increasing your search engine ranking. You have to use specific keywords that you know your target audience will be searching for.
http://www.ewebmarketing.com.au/seo/526_A_Basic_Guide_To_Higher_Rankings_In_Search_Engines.htm

who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
Inbound Links, Signature Lines In Message Forums, Consistently Good Quality Content , Simple Page Titles
http://www.ewebmarketing.com.au/seo/526_A_Basic_Guide_To_Higher_Rankings_In_Search_Engines.htm
what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?
Google, familiarity

NCT Blogg 4

How impressed am I with myself. Very. The new element to my blog page "Visitor Locations" I installed without any IT assistance from anyone. I do consider myself technologically challenged after all. So that is a big deal for me.

NCT Blogg 3_Alphaville Review

"Sensuality is a consequence of Love" has to be my favourite line from the movie. Sensuality is as important as breath. Could you imagine life without it, sensuality or love? Who would want to?

While the movie itself has a science fiction story line (I loathe science fiction) the setting takes place in France, a location I adore for all it's beauty which made the film somewhat bearable as the diegetic (the fictional world constructed by the film). The non-diegetic (sound which cannot be explained as deriving from the fictional world) elements I found annoying. The music of impending danger or climax, yet it kept me awake and the voice of the computer was painful to listen to. I enjoyed the absence of special effects.

Alphaville was represented as a society void of all human emotion, to show any emotion resulted in death by execution No past, no history, no memories, controlled by logic which suggests not a society or civilization but more so a horde. Remove the desire for the pursuit of happiness from the individual and you are left with a "non human". While Alphaville considered the logic more superior to the psyche, the choice of diversion to channel the individuals drives to intellectual, scientific or artistic achievement was neither accessible or accepted, nor was free will as it appeared. A civilization cannot exist without the drives of an individual and their psyche. The film however, suggests without logic and logic only, kaos is inevitable. Although it can be argued that an individuals liberty is not an asset of civilization denying the freedom unless channelled by civilization with law and morality. There was no psyche or conscience to the residents of Alphaville.

While I did not see the end of the movie due to technical issues, as it turned out the movie ended with the two main characters in Love, one from Alphville and the other from Outland.

Alphaville was a science fiction imaginary look into a future place in which the condition of life is extremely bad because of deprivation and oppression with no specific ideals_Dystopia.

Seriously, I do not watch any science fiction films for entertainment. I have not seen Star Wars, Star Trek, Matrix nothing. I did watch Doctor Who 25 years ago, maybe even more. I can't really remember nor do I wish to. Alphaville fits into that category of film for me, one I would like to forget and I am sure I will.

I found Alphaville a peculiar film.

NCT Blogg 2

I wouldn't normally source new communication technologies and only generally come across them through word of mouth. A change in address/location has led me to evaluate my choices and consider alternative communication technologies.

Facebook_ Initially I found the concept quite overwhelming and a huge invasion of privacy, however I gave into those feelings and reassured myself that the only people looking at my information are the people I have accepted to do so. So what is the harm. I found facebook to be great for me because I can keep up to date with friends and what has been happening in their wold without having to speak to them. That sounds so antisocial, but with todays fast paced lifestyle there just isn't enough time in the day to fit everything in. My favourite concept of facebook is looking at my friends photo albums because it gives me a sense of sharing their experiences. All my friends are friends that I currently know or friends that I may have had some years ago, who have made contact with me through facebook, which is a wonderful feeling to hear from old friends because while people change, friends change, the reasons you became friends in the first place doesn't. I use facebook now only about once a week.

MSN is my favourite form of communication. I love it. I use MSN daily to talk to my sister. A work colleague introduced me to instant messenger 2 years ago and i have continued to use MSN with my change of address, to talk to my sister and her family in preference over the telephone for economic reasons because while talking on the phone sometimes we don't talk, we just listen to one anther's silence.

I have no interest to meet people on line and only use the internet to communicate with existing friends, that is the extent of my socialising online. However as I become more familiar with the new communications technologies which are available that could change. I will just have to wait and see.