Week 5: Psychology and Social Media

There is a substantial body of research growing around various psychological concerns with continuous social media usage. Addiction, stress and envy are very real consequences of the participatory culture of social media. I looked at Facebook in particular and found a German study pointing out that “passive following triggers invidious emotions, with users mainly envying happiness of others, the way others spend their vacations; and socialize” (Krasnova 2013). Further tests in this article show how partaking in social media in only a limited capacity and not contributing much content can lead to a case of social media envy. As a certain BBC article states, it is the fear of missing out; a fear which could often be seen as unfounded given the trivial nature of social media communication. As more and more people adopt social media for longer time periods there will be an increasing impact on our psychological health.

bbc.co.uk, 2013, Facebook use 'makes people feel worse about themselves'

, viewed 23 August 2013, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23709009 >

Krasnova, H Wenninger H, Widjaja, T & Buxmann, P, 2013,

Envy on Facebook: A Hidden Threat to Users’ Life Satisfaction? , viewed 23 August 2013, <http://warhol.wiwi.hu-berlin.de/~hkrasnova/Ongoing_Research_files/WI%202013%20Final%20Submission%20Krasnova.pdf>

Week 6: Votecompass

This week we were encouraged to use abc.net's Votecompass tool, a digital survey of sorts that plots your voting preferences based on certain policies and topics you find important. As seen in my results I am inclined towards voting for the Greens, this was my voting preference before the test. Some other students that had taken the test discovered varied results to their voting preference. Although this is an in depth questionnaire it is by no means the only source of information that we should look for during an election. This tool even provides rational for a certain party's position on a policy. I regard myself as being fairly up to date with political issues and policy but there were some questions that prompted further research into topic I find less interest in.

abc.net.au, 2013, Votecompass, viewed 29 August 2013, <http://www.abc.net.au/votecompass/?hash=999e136beea1668e609da0385ad5754d1e18a6005c41377762386>

Week 6: Politics and New Technology

A topic in the lecture was the idea of censorship of free speech and access to information. I explored how government censorship of traditional or physical media is essentially now pointless. A recent example I found was the refusal of classification of the video game Saints Row IV after the Australian government created an 18+ rating suited for video game review. Something I was taking note of during the overseas release of the title was the access to information, video content and images from the title in Australia. I was able to access multiple YouTube play-throughs of the content despite the censorship and likely key word blocking from the Australian government. This would at least show that we aren't quite to the level of China's censorship. Are traditional methods of censorship still viable in an environment of new technology?

Classification.gov.au, 2013, 2013 Media Releases, viewed 29 August 2013, <http://www.classification.gov.au/Public/Resources/Pages/2013mediareleases.aspx >

Week 4: Personal Study on Cyberspace and Virtual Reality

Something most of us often forget in this digital age are how technology can change our health and mental state. The example I wish to discuss is that of virtual reality. Alternate World Syndrome (AWS) is a condition which with extended virtuality can lead to 'ruptures of the kinaesthetic from the visual senses of self-identity, a complaint we already know from simulator sickness and from high stress, techno-centered lifestyles' (Heim 1995). In essence this indicates that through continuous use of virtual environments human beings are capable of a type of 'body amnesia' in which the mind lags behind when switching between the virtual world and the real world. Michael Heim spent six hours inside a virtual experiment and recorded such effects as perceptual nausea and an illusory brightening of colours and movements. This merging of man and machine creates an unanticipated negative effect on the body and the mind.

So what does this mean for potential lovers of all things virtual? This technological lag or 'sickness' could be detrimental if such technology could be implanted into human beings. Virtual reality could be used as an escape to the extreme, an example would be an elderly user of Oculus Rift technology commenting that she would 'never leave after this'. While said mostly in jest how long do we have to wait before 'retirement' is the literal retirement of our human functions. This is an issue reflected upon in Blade Runner and one I may follow up in my essay.

Here is the video in which an Oculus Rift tester gives his grandmother a demonstration.

Heim, M 1995, 'The Design of Virtual Reality', in M Featherstone & R Burrows (eds), Cyberspace/Cyberpunk/Cyberbodies, Sage, London, pp. 65-68.

Week 3 Readings: Mind Control & the Internet

This article largely focuses on the pace in which living beings are evolving in comparison to technological developments. Halpern states "There is no Moore's Law for human beings", I understood this as an analysis of humanities overall understanding of technology as it progresses. People are less likely to examine the finer functions of programming such as how a web search engine finds pages relating to a query. This lack of curiousity but heavy reliance on technology could result in cybernetic implanting to become commonplace among the greater population; a practice currently reserved for medical treatments.

I brought up some questions in class:

What (if any) cybernetic implants would you consider regardless of medical needs, and if you needed an implant for medical purposes would you research that specific technology to understand how works?

If you had an opportunity to receive cybernetic implants regardless of your medical condition would you research your decision any further than if you were buying a phone?

The response was largely against implanting without research was not wanted. A class member made a point that many people would accept a Blackberry as an implant regardless of consequences.

Halpern, Sue (2011) 'Mind Control & the Internet', New York Review of Books, June 23.

La jetée

La jetée is a 1962 French science fiction film from the French new wave era. This film was shown to us in the week 2 lecture. Something interesting I discovered from watching the film was the connection between this weeks reading on the theory of musical jamming and the technical creation of the film. The film uses old technology (that of still images and black and white) and creates an innovative narrative by using these techniques in unique and different ways; similar to the way that musicians create new melodies while using set techniques. I am posting this video as it strikes my personal interests in film and science fiction as well as being a future example in my essay.

Week 2 Reading: Theory Jamming

The Theory Jamming concept is a reflection upon how musicians collaborate and share almost instantly their new developments in their chosen form of communication, this being a musical example. Upon reading this article I couldn't help but reflect upon my own interest of video games and how this theory applies to their role in new communication technology. While not a widely known concept, 'Game Jams' are a type of collaborative event growing in popularity, one such example is The Global Game Jam (GGJ). As stated on the Global Game Jam website their goal is to invite programmers and other contributors to try new technology to design a video game fitted to a given theme in the span of 48 hours to create an 'intellectual challenge'. These events can be closely compared to what Stockwell described as a need to collaborate and focus on the present rather than a final goal, the time limit given to the attendees serves to enforce that.

Stockwell comments that the theory-jammer is “still reliant on traditional melody, harmony and syncopation but now bent, twisted and reorganised into an entirely new story”. These events could be considered an environment of technological innovation, stepping outside the boundaries of pre-existing theory to spawn originality amongst peers.

Global Game Jam, 2013, About Global Game Jam, viewed 2 August 2013, <http://globalgamejam.org/about >

Stockwell, S 2006, Theory-Jamming: Uses of Eclectic Method in an Ontological Spiral, vol. 9, no. 6, viewed 2 August 2013, via M/C Journal database http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0612/09-stockwell.php.

Week 2 Readings: The History of Communication

When comparing sources of information regarding historical dates regarding communication it is evident that not all dates are agreed upon. Some sources remain rather linear such as The History of Communication page from About.com. Other sources are much more effective in categorising and showcasing the large number of technologies and advancements across the last five-thousand years. For example in McGaughy's summary, each technology is given its own timeline regardless of what listed technology preceded it (McGaughy 2011). Such technologies include alphabetic writing, television, radio, photography and computing. Examining both sites shows a clear pattern of a large number of developments taking place between the years 1900 and 2000. While more legitimate sources such as journal articles would be useful for further study, the two sites provide a general outline of the most crucial developments of communication.

McGaughy, W 2011, Some Dates in the History of Cultural Technologies, viewed 2 August 2013, <http://worldhistorysite.com/culttech.html#CivV-Anchor >.

About.com, 2013, The History of Communication, viewed 2 August 2013, <http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_history_of_communication.htm>