POST EIGHT: APPS

This week I will be looking into the reading written by David Bollier “How Will We Reclaim and Shape the Ambient Commons?”. Bollier states “A new generation of augmented reality apps on smartphones are altering how we interact with the physical environment”. His example of how we use smartphone apps to scan words in foreign languages for translations is just one of the ways apps on our smartphones revolutionise our society. I think there are both pros and cons to this technological advancements. These apps that we use come very handy in our daily activities providing convenience, however I think it is so important to note that it does deteriorate our cognitive abilities. This will always be an age old argument with people arguing for and against these technological advancements. It reminds me of an I saw behind the back of a bus last week. It was advertising a brand of map book and the message of the advertisement was that a GPS always has errors and smartphones will run out of batteries but a map in a form of a book will always save the day. This made me consider how much reliance we have on our navigation apps on our phones to locate ourselves and find our way around. It makes me question, will the younger generation even know how to read a road map. Bollier states that “About three in five of us carry around smartphones, which have radically changed how we navigate the city”. Bollier even claims that signage and tourist guidebooks less necessary.

Looking further into the topic of apps which Bratton describes it as “an interface between the user and his habitat. It structures and activates a programmed mediation between user and environment (and therefore Cloud and environment) according to specific program.” Bratton notes that apps are tiny, in fact the Google Earth iOS app alone puts a total geography in your pocket for 29.5Mb. Reflecting on the apps on my smartphone that I use everyday, the top 3 apps that I use each day include the Commonwealth Bank app, eBay app and WhatsApp app. Instead of having to go to the bank each day to transfer money, to pay bills, etc, one app on my smartphone can do it all. Then for eBay, I can have a completely running shop without having a physical shop front then my WhatsApp app allows me to keep in touch with my friends constantly without having to even physically meet up. On an individual scale, apps have revolutionised my day to day life.

 

Bollier, David (2013) ‘How Will We Reclaim and Shape the Ambient Commons?’, David Bollier: news and perspectives on the commons, July 16, <http://bollier.org/blog/how-will-we-reclaim-and-shape-ambient-commons&gt;

Bratton, Benjamin (2014) ‘On Apps and Elementary Forms of Interfacial Life: Object, Image, Superimposition’, Bratton.info, December, <http://www.bratton.info/projects/texts/on-apps-and-elementary-forms-of-interfacial-life/&gt;

POST SEVEN: GOING VIRAL

“The web is full of things going viral; jokes, marketing campaigns for beer and most of all videos passed through video-sharing platforms such as Vimeo and Youtube” (Munster 2013).  PSY’s Gangnam style is one of the best examples of a media virus. While reading Anna Munster’s “Going Viral: Contagion as Networked Affect, Network Refrain”, the first viral video that came to mind was the Gangnam video and dance that went viral worldwide after its release on July 2012. “A media virus behaves exactly the same as a biological one” (Munster 2013). The connection according to Rushkoff is the ‘protein shell’ from a biological virus is comparable to an event, invention, technology, visual image or pop hero as long as it catches our attention”. After the video was shared on YouTube then across other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the video spread like wildfire. On December 21st 2012, just 5 months after its release, it became the first YouTube video to reach a billion views. It now has over 2 billion views. What is so interesting about this video was that it affected the audience so much that paraody videos also went viral. It became an international known dance, and PSY became a worldwide known character. Following the video an array of memes showed up social media and were also spread like wildfire. It made history in the way that it reached the global audience and how much it influenced pop culture. I remember not long ago I saw bobble head toys of PSY in bargain stores. Looking back I became first aware of the video from Facebook, a lot of my Facebook friends were sharing the videos. I didn’t realise how far it spread until I saw the endless amounts of parodies and flashmob videos with the Gangnam style dance all over my YouTube feeds. I think this is a perfect real life example of “going viral”

 

Munster, Anna (2013) ‘Going Viral: Contagion as Networked Affect, Networked Refrain’ in An Aesthesia of Networks: Conjunctive Experience in Art and Technology, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press: 99-123

POST SIX: NEW COMMUNITIES

Following this week’s topic and readings, I reflected about how society has changed with new communication and new media. In particular the TED Talk by Howard Rheingold was most interesting in the way that he describes the evolving world that is based on collaboration. He notes how the internet has transformed society as we know it, with every computer and laptop is now a broadcasting device, a printing press, a community or a marketplace.  Looking at this statement and unravelling it, Rheingold is referring to how the internet as new forms of media communications has allowed individuals to broadcast with their devices using means of a blog, social media platforms and contributing to collaborative Wikis like Wikipedia. Individuals are also able to join communities through new media communications by simply joining forums, subscribing to groups and pages. An easy example that comes to mind is joining or liking a page on Facebook which enables us to follow a group of people or individual or brand, we become a part of a community.

The Prisoner’s dilemma was an interesting point that Rheingold pointed out, where lack of trust leads to lack of cooperation. I think the example that stood out to me the most was the eBay example whereby the feedback program enables the seller and buyer to have cooperative relationship through the buyer choosing to trust the seller and the seller working to earn general trust and reliability. The other example that Rheingold presented was Wikipedia and how it is a platform that allows for everyone around the world to contribute to this worldwide Encyclopedia demonstrating collaboration. This demonstrates how the internet has transformed society into a sharing economy whereby the “Peer to Peer” or P2P philosophies exist.

Looking to the idea of Peer to Peer networking I want to note the connection with this concept to the research proposal that I have written for this course. I chose to write a research proposal about the impact of social media on the Arab Springs movement. I found this topic to link with this week’s topic. With the Arab Springs movement, people used social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to establish new communities that went across geological borders. They organised rallies through social media which demonstrates how powerful peer to peer networking can be. New media communications, in other words, the internet has transformed networking and challenges the idea of community by bypassing geographical limitations. It has enabled people to share knowledge, data and wealth, creating a more open society.

 

References/Bibliography

Aday, S. et al. (2012). New Media and Conflict After The Arab Spring. Blogs and Bullets II. 80. 3-21

Rheingold, Howard (2008) ’Way-new collaboration’, YouTube.com (TED), <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=d5s3Z0iesRM&gt;

 

POST FIVE: PRIVACY

In this post I want to explore the concept of privacy from the Morozov feature story, “The Real Privacy Problem”. In this way I want to reflect about how institutions have adapted to new media and utilise them to control. Morozov discusses the commercialism involved in the way that Baran describes how new technology obtains and stores our information. Morozov points out how it is omitted that our private information is kept on these “clouds” by “the Internet” for purposed such as surveillance.

I think about this point in regards to my own interaction with online sites ranging from online banking to online shopping, my personal data including my address, contact details, passwords, credit cards and private pins are all stored on a cloud. Personally I always use the option to save the password on websites I use, just because I know I tend to forget passwords and I like the convenience of having quicker access to things if it means I don’t have to type long email and passwords out each time. This becomes so mindless to me and most probably a large portion of the population. We so freely give out information without thinking of our privacy and what could be done with our personal information.

Morozov points out how capitalism and bureaucratic administration have adapted themselves to new media, overseeing all the information flows hence they have the power of surveillance. In terms of capitalism I think it is important to reflect on Facebook which is “first of all a capitalistic organisation, whose main drive is profit accumulation” (Netchitailova 2012). Facebook advertising is a massive topic, it is widely known now that Facebook sells our information to advertisers. The data that is collected by Facebook about an individual is overwhelming includes your name, location, photos, IP address and everything that you “like”. I think the most interesting point is that with Facebook, we as non paying users are not its customers, we are actually the products. The customers are the advertisers to whom Facebook sells the information users hand over whether they realise or not (Brown 2010).

Going beyond advertisers, the government is able to use new media to surveillance our actions. This creates an alarming concern as our personal data is openly accessed for whatever reason we are completely ignorant to. I think the issue of transparency should arise here, where corporations should be honest about the fact that our information is obtained and for what purpose. For the population to find out through whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden, creates a deterioration of the image of the government, destroying trust people would have in the organisations running their countries. This topic is very interesting because we are all so involved with it, as we are constantly active on the internet which guarantees that what we have done online is recorded somewhere and possibly being watched.

 

References

Brown, Andrew. 2010. Facebook Is Not Your Friend. The Guardian May 14. Accessed April 28, 2014.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2010/may/14/facebook-not-your-friend

Morozov, Evgeny (2013) ‘The Real Privacy Problem’, MIT Technology Review, October 22, <http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/520426/the-real-privacy-problem/>

Netchitailova, E 2012, ‘Facebook as a Surveillance Tool: From the Perspective of the User’, Triplec (Cognition, Communication, Co-Operation): Open Access Journal For A Global Sustainable Information Society, 10, 2, pp. 683-691

POST 4: SOFTWARE

In this blog post, I want to look at a few interesting points I found throughout the readings. The first being the idea that there is no such thing as digital media and that there is only software that was in the Manovich reading. This statement stood out to me the most throughout this week’s readings. In my opinion the photograph example gave me clarity about the concept. A traditional photograph taken would be final; no changes can be made to a photo after it is taken. But today when we take a photograph with our phones or DSLRs we can load it to an application such as Instagram or Photoshop and click a few buttons to edit it. In this sense, we are using software to edit metadata which can be in the form of values that represent brightness and colours. I think this is a fascinating concept as although we have been brought up to think of things as digital such as a photograph taken with a DSLR we neglect to realise that the actual characteristics of being digital actually derive from using software.

Next I want to reflect about data and the large role it plays in our daily life. From the “10 ways data is changing how we live” reading the author of the article mentions shopping. Personally I am an online shopper and I have noticed on a daily basis on sites that I go on to whether it be leisure websites or websites I am researching on for my studies I will see on the sides of the articles, advertisements of items that I have clicked on or placed in my cart or wishlist on online shops including The Iconic and Boohoo. These advertisements are specifically catered to me. Advertisers have kept track of what I have viewed and what I put in my cart and use this data to remind me of the items while I am doing other tasks. The purpose of collecting the data is to cater advertising to me and to direct me back to the website to make the purchase. This made me think about Commonwealth Bank withdrawals, every time I go to withdraw money from an ATM it always has the option of doing my “favourite withdrawal” which is a withdrawal I have done more than a few times. The software has registered data that I have completed the same transaction more than once and puts it into the system as a “favourite”. This shows how intelligent software is and how it aims to enhance our daily lives by recognising our patterns by collecting our data.

 

Manovich, Lev (2011) “There is only software’, softwarestudies.com, <http://lab.softwarestudies.com/2011/04/new-article-by-levmanovich-there-is.html&gt;

Quilty-Harper, Conrad (2010) ’10 ways data is changing how we live’, TheTelegraph, August 25 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/7963311/10-waysdata-is-changing-how-we-live.html&gt;

POST 3: MEMORY

The idea that technology will destroy our natural memory was such an interesting point to me and I want to reflect this notion through this post. In our era of constant use of social media, I have noticed we have less reliance on our natural memory to recall events and dates. A big example is birthdays! On my birthday I would have a whole bunch of people post on my wall as if its a ritual for everyone to say “Happy Birthday” to anyone who has a birthday of each day. This doesn’t mean that so many people remembered my birthday, but it was purely the fact that Facebook reminded them. I find this concept so interesting and so strange. I think we became a society that actually relied on social media platforms like Facebook to tell us things such as our loved ones and friends’ birthdays. I think of myself and I realise I actually only remember a handful of birthdays and the rest I only know of through Facebook notifications. This is actually quite a sad fact, that we do not even try to remember things to do with our peers simply because we don’t feel that we need to store it in our head, because it is stored online and we can access the information any time we desire through our many devices.

Even the idea of the Facebook timeline or Instagram, we sometimes rely on photos to recall events we participated in. Instead of memory storage in our brain, the memories are now stored in technology. Another sad fact that I thought about was friendships that are only remembered because you are connected to them through social media. I am a culprit of this more than once! There is that awkward moment when someone who you have met approaches you and you’re trying very deeply to remember who they are and how you met, only knowing that you know them because you are friends on Facebook. And you think to yourself if only you could quickly go on to their Facebook profile to figure out your mutual friends so you can track how you know them!

In the readings it mentions the idea of degeneration of memory and this relates to how we use less of our natural memory with our reliance on new media to be our memory. Another thing that I notice is that I strongly rely on the “save my password” feature for my email, my ebay and various accounts for other websites. I have so much trouble remembering my passwords that I constantly find myself having to reset my passwords only to forget them again! Sad…but true.

POST 2: Nonverbal Signs

In the reading Bateson talks of nonverbal signs which includes body language and facial expressions. In my everyday life especially when I work in my retail job, I note someone’s mood and energy by their non verbal signs. I see it a lot when I am serving customers. By noting their body language and tone of voice and noticing the patterns, without realising they are communicating to me and the world how they are feeling in that moment. I can actually now tell if a customer will be interested in buying a charity add on item or sign up for our VIP list at the counter or if they just want to get out of the store. You can tell if shopping is a chore to them or the opposite and that they’re having the time of their lives.

In general  by noting the non verbal signs that Bateson speaks of you can see when someone is happy or in a good mood when they have a genuine smile or a genuine laugh. Then there are different smiles such as the awkward smile or the fake smile that hides other emotions. So in this sense there is communication without needing the linear transmission of messages. I think body language can be so much stronger than words in communication. You can tell someone is angry without them telling you that they are angry, you can see their expression, hear their tone of voice and notice their body language this links to Bateson’s observation of the monkeys playing.

Also I notice that we communicate not only what goes on in our head but we communicate our physiology as well through our body language without using words, for example we would shiver or our posture changes when we feel cold and we don’t actually have to say “I am cold”. Our relation between mind and body shows others our personality, our character and how we are feeling in that moment.

Moving on, thinking about the effect of media communication through Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and text they attempt to recreate the facial expression aspect of communication through emoticons which represent Batesons idea of mood signs. A lot of the times the emoticons are exaggerations of human expression, commonly used “lol” does not mean you’re literally laughing out loud.

Bateson, Gregory (2000) ‘A Theory of Play and Fantasy’, Steps to an Ecology of Mind Chicago: Chicago University Press: 177-183

POST 1 – McLuhan & Kittler

In this post, I want to reflect about the ideas of McLuhan and Kittler from the readings. I found both theorists incredibly interesting in their particular view on the subject of technology. McLuhan was a technology determinist and regarded technologies as extensions of human capacities, such that the computer is an extension of the brain. This notion makes a lot of sense to me. If we were to go to a supermarket like Woolworths or Coles, we will notice self check out systems whereby machines are replacing humans. They are taking the role of what supermarket workers would be doing. Even on a more basic level, looking at a calculator, that is clearly an extension of the brain as calculations would have been done mentally in the past, now we have a piece of technology that does calculations for us. In this sense technology has greatly improved our society, making it more efficient as a whole.

Another technology that came to mind when I thought about McLuhan’s ideas, is the Amazon drones which looks to promise to cut one to two day delivery to 30 minutes or less. The drones differ from delivery trucks in that they take one direct route, saving time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98BIu9dpwHU

I think this is a clear example of how technology is an extension of human capacities.

Now on to Kittler’s approach which was more negative and “dystopian”. “He suggested that we weren’t masters of our technological domain but rather that we were its pawns”. This quote from the reading made me think of the movie Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott. Blade Runner is set in the future with a dystopian setting where the world is ruined by technology and humans have become completely detached. The theme of humanity is strong in the movie as the human made robots are more human, showing more emotion than the human creators themselves. Virilio stated that the speed and acceleration of technology will be the death of us all. Putting Kittler and Virilio’s ideas together with the Ridley Scott film, shows how detrimental technological acceleration can be.

It is so interesting to compare and contrast the two main conflicting ideas present in this week’s readings. Personally I see the reasoning behind both but I am beginning to side more with Kittler and Virilio’s approach.

 

REFERENCES

Jeffries, Stuart (2011) ‘Friedrich Kittler and the rise of the machine’, The Guardian, December 28<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/28/friedrich-kittler-rise-of-the-machine&gt;

Murphie, Andrew and Potts, John (2003) ‘Theoretical Frameworks’ in Culture and Technology London: Palgrave Macmillan: 11-38