Week 7 Lecture Posted by Sarah:):) , Monday, September 28, 2009 at 6:26 PM, in

In this lecture we talked about open source software. Jason gave this lecture and showed us a site where we could download free applications which work just as well as the ones you pay Microsoft for. Open source software opens the code up to everyone, which means the general consumer can improve the software by tweaking the code. They can then share this with the public, thus making all software a constantly updated tool for consumers. There are also online communities for open source software where the creators of these can come together and discuss their ideas etc.

http://www.freewaregenius.com/ is a website specifically for software packagaes that perform small specific tasks. People wouldn't normally profit from these if they tried to sell them as they are performing tasks that do not suit everyone. The only problems are you have to manually update the software and it is an easy target for viruses to attack.

For this lecture I have to download some free software, use it and then comment on my experiences.

I downloaded Songbird, which is an open source music player which integrates its content directly with the internet. I like to use www.lastfm.com and I can listen to the radio directly through my music player. I find that iTunes has a lot of problems and although Songbird has a few problems that need ironing out, I am confident that people will recognise these and tweak the code to improve the software. You have many options for appearance, organisation and management, web browsing etc. You can find similar artists or even display lyrics while you are listening to a song. People can create their own add ons and put them on the website to share with people, so I will definitely be checking back on a regular basis to see how I can update my music player. I'm sure any add ons that iTunes may introduce would not be free and so readily available. It processed my songs really quickly too, a lot better than iTunes where I would be waiting around for ages. Songbirds growing popularity is only serving to improve the quality of the software, with people keen to tweak the program to make it better for all.

Week 6 Lecture Posted by Sarah:):) , at 5:37 PM, in

This lecture focused on consumption and production. In this lecture, we were told about how we consume produced content in relation to the big and small screens of life.

THE BIG SCREEN

The big screen primarily talks about the cinema. When cinema first opened up, it primarily showed news reels, topicals or locales. The Nickoldean boom saw a rise in cinema attendance which exposed more movies to the consumer and made more money for the producer. The
introduction of television saw a move to the private consumption of media and entertainment. The introduction of the PC led to consumers being able to output media.
Picture Source: http://www.channel4.com/film/media/images/cinema-585x525.jpg







THE SMALL SCREEN

The small screen means ipods, mobile phones etc.
They talk about this in relation to
"consumers becoming increasingly involved in the production of products, and they also produce their own identities in the process of consuming and producing products." (Facebook, YouTube).

Source:
http://apple.qoody.net/wp-content/uploads/
2007/12/ipods-2dheart-small.jpg

It is important to take a look at the way consumers produce media. This can be done through fan made films, mash ups and recuts, citizen journalism and blogging. People who are fans of produced content decide to make a film about it which is in turn consumed by other fans of the media. An example of this is the fan made film Troops, which mashes Star Wars with the popular TV show Cops.

Week 7 Tutorial: IReport Posted by Sarah:):) , Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 8:01 PM, in

This is mine and Megan's ireport about Griffith University Students robbing vending machines on campus.

Week 8 Tutorial Task Posted by Sarah:):) , at 7:54 PM, in

This week's tutorial task is all about politics and the internet.
Sign an e-petition
The first thing I must do is sign an e-petition. I signed an e-petition about decriminalising abortion in Queensland. This petition currently has 582 signatures and closes on the 23rd of October. On the left is the confirmation of my signature <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< class="Apple-style-span" color="#3333ff">http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/EPetitions_QLD/Default.aspx?LIndex=0

Respond to a Professional Blogger at a News Site
The next thing I must do is respond to a professional blogger at a news site. I went to www.news.com.au and found many professional bloggers I can respond to. Evan Maloney is a screenwriter who attempts to understand the issues of the world. He has a blog about the 80's video dating montage on youtube that shows a series of real dating videos posted by men. He contemplates whether it is real or fake. I responded by saying my favourite 80's hunk was the one that says "As you may have noticed I have incredibly blue eyes." This video highlights the blurring of the lines between audience recognition between what is real and what is fake on the internet and how easily they can be tricked.


Local, State and Federal Representatives

My next task is to find out who my local state and federal representatives are.
The member for Southport is Peter Lawlor. To find out more about him, click here
Source: http://www.peterlawlor.com.au/southport/pages/posts/Active-Communities-Project. The local representative for Parkwood is Councillor Dawn Crichlow.

Source:http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/image_content/councillors/councillor_crichlow_large.jpg

The member for the state is Anna Bligh. Her official website is http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/. The state representative is Peter Lawlor.




Source: http://www.vision6.com.au/download/files/11523/791291/New%20Picture.jpg

The federal is prime minister Kevin Rudd. His official website is http://www.pm.gov.au//. The federal representative for Gold Coast is Hon. Ronald Boswell.

Last Time The Local Representative Spoke in Parliament

The next thing I did was search for the last time Peter Lawlor spoke in parliament. I searched the Queensland Hansard but didn't find anything in particular on Peter Lawlor. The website for the Queensland Hansard is http://parlinfo.parliament.qld.gov.au/ISYSHanSimp.htm. I found it much easier to find his speeches on his official website. The last time he spoke in parliament was on the 22nd of September and was about how the Queensland tourism industry is suffering from the current economic climate. The speech is basically public relations spin to promote the Labor government positively. The internet is integral to the government getting their message across to the general public, and consequently, the public is better informed about the government and democracy. I managed to contact Peter through his website to tell him that it is good to focus on the tourism environment but asked him if the costs involved in the advertising campaign will be paid back from visitor expenditure and whether Queenslander's money is going to the right place. This is the contact form for Peter, if you would like to contact him about labor policy.

What is Barack Obama doing on this day?

On this day, 23rd of September 2009, Barack Obama did his first speech at the United Nations about working globally to solve the issues of the world including the recession and global warming. You can access a news article on this http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/09/24/president-barack-obama-s-plea-we-must-all-save-the-world-115875-21696417/

The Australian Government's Plans to Censor the Internet: The Clean Feed

I believe that the government's plans to censor the internet will be a waste of taxpayer money that could be put to better uses in this economic climate. The government places a high importance on modernising broadband within Australia, but this move can only serve to slow our internet connection and increase prices for home broadband. Many Australian households are diverse with different needs, so implementing only one approach to censorship will not meet the needs of the Australian public as a whole. Perhaps the money would be better spent on educating parents about the dangers of the internet and what they can do to better protect thier children. Censoring the internet will also go against the ideals of representative demoncracy i.e free speech. Granted, there are things that a general consesus will agree should be banned but ideals will always differ between individuals and who is to say what is right and what is wrong. If we go too far then the very core of representative democracy will be challenged in a country where these ideals are what make this country such a good place to live in. In the paper, parents were cracking up at a school because they hadn't banned a Libra website, made specifically to help young girls. How far will we go before everything we stand for fades away?

Week 5 Lecture Posted by Sarah:):) , Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 8:26 PM, in

In this week's lecture, we had a look at the different sites out there on the internet. We also had a talk about social networking sites and how the popularity of them changes over time. Myspace has been replaced by Facebook and Facebook will be replaced by Twitter. There are some really interesting interactive sites out there and I've got some example of how I've interacted with them in the tutorial task blog.

To the left is a ranking of current social networking sites. It is interesting to see how trends have changed over time and continue to change.

There are arguments that social networking sites are damaging to youth and their social skills. It has been said that instead of developing real friendships, youth replace this with talking on the internet. They believe that this is good enough and it is no longer necessary to interact face to face to maintain a real relationship. Nevertheless, social networking sites are a good tool to keep in touch and are a quick and easy form of communication.

Tutorial Task Week 6: My Movie Moment Posted by Sarah:):) , at 8:14 PM, in

This movie is from week 6 tutorials, and shows me as the Terminator! Grrr! It is the 5th site I interacted with.

Week 6 Tutorial Task Posted by Sarah:):) , Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 8:23 PM, in

1)This week's tutorial task we have to interact with 5 different websites posted on the blog and also create our own google map. The first site was called "Persona" and shows all the information about your name that is posted on the internet and sorts them into categories. It is also a visual representation and is an example of digital artwork. An example of mine is on the left.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

View Sarah's Important Places in a larger map


View Larger Map

2) This is a map I created in Google Maps of all my important places. It includes places I've lived, places I like to go etc. This is just a small preview that has the most places clustered in the one area.

3) This is my artistic rendition of my my encounter with Guy Sebastian at laser tag. Needless to say I beat him. By a lot.

4) The next website I chose to interact with was the waybackmacine.com. I searched for youtube and got a picture of the first ever youtube page back in 2005.

5) The next site I chose to interact with is VampireRave.com. I'm not quite sure how it works but it seems you advance levels according to how many pages you view and how much time you spend on each page. Vampire pages? I don't know. Below is a table of the levels you can obtain. I guess this is another social networking site... I'm not quite sure how to interact with it cause I don't want to join up or anything so I'll just show you this little bit of how it works.

Level	Power
1	Can send up to 10 messages in a 24 hour period. Account can remain inactive for up to 180 days before deletion.
2	Account is never deleted for inactivity.
3	Can bite other members. [Vampire Rave]
4	Can send 30 messages per 24 hour period.
5	Can reply to (but not start) public Forum threads.
6	Can submit entries to the Database.
7	Can submit links to the Open Link Directory.
8	Can stalk other members. [Vampire Rave]
10	Unlimited messaging.
12	Can start new public Forum threads.
15	Can post Announcements.
17	Can Post Events.
18	Can post to Vampbox and other public Chatrooms.
20	Can be inducted by a Vampire Rave Society.
25	Can create Public Pages.
30	Can create public polls.
40	Can start a Dark Network Group.
50	Can submit member articles to the Vampire Rave article base.
65	Can apply to become an Acolyte
80	Can act as a Mentor. Can mentor up to 5 pupils below level 80.
90	Can mentor up to 10 pupils.
100	Can mentor up to 20 pupils. Can no longer be forcibly inducted into a Society. [Vampire Rave] Is free to leave any Society. [Vampire Rave] Can petition a Society for membership. [Vampire Rave] Can start a Coven. [Vampire Rave] Can form an Alliance, if the Master of a Coven. [Vampire Rave]

6) This is an interactive site called Polyvore.com in which you can create outfits or art or interior designs. I chose a few pieces I liked and put them together to make this. It was really cool because they had a lot to choose from and you can buy the pieces online too. It helps to visualise what looks good together.

7) The next one I did was www.generatorblog.com. On this site I found moviemaker.com which takes your photo and superimposes it onto a famous clip from a movie. On this site, I managed to star as the Terminator! It's actually really creepy but it's cool! I couldn't get it into this blog post but the actual video is on a different blog.