What is the future of Digital Culture?

Technology impacts our lives much more than I had previously realized. The use of gadgets to test and explore technology was also interesting. The use of using magic markers to create layers of augmented reality and the headset used in osmose shows a new breed of technology being created that will be expanded upon in later years. Perhaps we may even be able to create robots through augmented reality and osmosis. I learnt that search engines could be considered as robots, as they are themselves machines that help us process and find large amounts of information.

However, in the world of Web 2.0, although the Internet and source engines are useful tools, not many people are aware of how much information they put online especially through things like social networking sites such as facebook. Privacy controls are constantly changing and need to be updated, but this conflicts with the fact that so many people are actually willing to share their details online, leaving them at risk to potential fraudsters. The rise of web 2.0 has also promoted the concept of sharing and uploading information with each other through various user generated content, which leads people to ask whether the internet should be regulated. Here is are some interesting videos I found about the new generation of the internet - Web 3.0





I find it interesting that user generated content will grow, and anything and everything will be connected - more than it is now. This will be a good for advertisers who will have to depend on the Internet to provide services for consumers. However, this will mean that everyone will be relying on a machine to potentially help them in every area of life, and will be expected to be online 24/7.

The way we interact with people online is different from that in real life. When we enter cyberspace, we can create our own world, a person we want to be. We can create a virtual life with things we want such as in games like second life or SIMS. We can connect with people who have same views/interests as us without even leaving our front door.

We have several portable devices that have access to the internet, the interface design depends on the devices used. We have evolved from using a mouse and computer to using a laptops with a touch pad, and mobile phones with touch screen facilities. Essentially, devices are getting smaller and smaller, but they are able to do multiple things, which are easier for us to to while we are on the go.

How much does Technology impact society and culture?

We live in a developed world and the growth and popularity of the technology means that we are constanstly online or connected with other people.

When we wake up in the morning,check our phone for the time and/or mixed calls and texts. When we go the bathroom, we may have options on our shower head to automatically set the water temperature for us instead of having to do it manually. When we enter most cars nowadays, there is a handy sat nav near by,so we no longer have to ask people for directions or look at a map. When we finally enter our work place, we will most definitely use the internet to find out something or even use it while we our on our break.

An average day consists of different types of technology that we rely and depend on without us even realizing it.



Jon Dovey and Helen Kennedy say that '' 'Technicity' is the interconncctedness of identity towards technology competence. People's tastes, aptitudes, and propensities towards technology become part of a particular 'identity'. This indentity then becomes a basis of affiliations and connections with like-minded others. Our particular habits with, for, instance, mobile phones, iPods, computer games or DVD collections can become expressions of our 'technicity.' ''

For example, If I wanted to play a game on xbox with my friends, I could connect with them online through my 'gamertag' which would monitor myself and my friends score. I could even connect with complete strangers too, simply because we share the same interests in games.

We are already starting to live in a world where we are judged based on how many pieces of technology we have. Phones, iPods, game soles ect. The growth of technology and the interent has made it easier to advertise products and create brands. For example, the use of the apple brand has increased through the use of technology.

Is there such thing as Privacy anymore?

We live in a world where information is stored about us and the the things we do throughout the day is monitored. The places we go to can be seen on CCTV or through out oyster cards and the things we buy can be monitored through the things we pay for on our debit cards. Our passports have information on every single place we have travelled to outside the UK and we also have databases on our teeth, medical health, and any criminal records we may have.

We are even monitored by the websites we visit through the use of cookies. If a stranger found all these details about you, they could easily build a quick profile about you and you could become a victim of identity theft.

Privacy has also become a bigger issue since the rise and popularity of social networking sites. People are willing to share more information about themselves online, leaving them at risk to strangers. For example, facebook was originally a site for friends to connect and share with each other, but a lot of people accept friend requests from people they don't actually know. Leaving your profile public for all to see could mean that a potential employee could browse through your pictures and wall posts to get the real view about you before they decide whether or not to take you on for the job.


Here are some stories about the isses surrounding our privacy online

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Operating Systems?

Open source software is described in Kavanagh’s ‘Open Source Software: Implementation and management’ (2004) as ‘software that must be distributed with source code included or easily available, such as by free download from the internet. The License of this software will not restrict others from disrupting the code or modifications and derived works under the same terms.

In simpler terms, open source software allows anyone to create and or edit on software that already exists.

Users of open software are at an advantage as they are able to control and understand technology rather than being controlled by technology or software makers. For example, Android apps are open and free to be developed by members of the public whereas iPhone apps cost money to be developed and users will have to pay to use it as they are copy right restricted. As android is not regulated, their apps can be subject to viruses and bugs. However, improvements can be made on an android app by members of the public. Once an iphone app has been developed, it is rarely edited or re created.

Copy left is helpful to recognized programme developers as it allows users to help in developing it, whilst stopping people from copying and closing off the source codes and passing it off as their own.

However, operating systems such as Wikipedia can cause problems because it is part of user generated content and is not regulated. The fact that anyone can come and edit information means that the information provided may not always be correct

How do incoherences affect a game?

When we play a game, we are expected to abide by the rules. When we understand the rules of the game, we expect certain things to happen. For example, in pacman, when we eat fruits, we expect the ghosts to to move slower giving us the change to eat more yellow dots and gain points to the next level. But what happens when things happen in a game that we don't expect to happen? For example, when we are playing a racing game, if we crash our vehicle into the wall and the car doesn't get damaged or bounce back on us on the screen we will be surprised, and concept of cause and effect will be questioned.

Another example would be if, in an action game, a grappling rope will hold on to one thing, but not another. This will frustrate us as we have to find another means to navigating around the space that we have been given. Other times,there may be glitches or bugs in a game that prevent us from experiencing the game in its best quality.

How do rules and Magic circles affect the way we play games?

When we play a game, we are expected to follow the rules given to us in order to play it successfully. We are expected to follow these rules inside the magic circle - that is the boundary in which you play the game.
So, for example, the magic circle in a real life football game would be the football pitch. A common real life magic circle is the workplace - the office, where we are conforming to the different rules that we must abide by. We can also say that we are magic circles, as we act one way with our friends, and another way to our parents.

The magic circles in a game could change depending on the genre of the game, whether it is single or multiplayer or what hardware the game is being played on e.g Computer or offline.

If we compare a miniature game with the pacman game we can see the differences. Pacman is a single player game which is normally played on a screen and the magic circle is the maze. The apihany vs Euphoria in this game is to avoid the ghosts from eating you, while managing to eat the fruits which will slow down the ghosts, giving you more time to eat the yellow dots and gain extra points by eating the ghost. The ghosts are aware that you are there. Whereas in the minature game, again, the maze is the magic circle, however, unlike pacman, you are competing against other people to get to the middle of the maze first and trying overcome being blocked in your path by the Grey blocks.

The dice is an important part of the game because it controls the way you and the way your opponents move. You are also restricted by the dice because 6 is the maximum times you can move in one time, unlike pacman where you have freedom to move within the maze. There are different levels in pacman which increase in difficulty suggesting that the game never really ends as there are more problems to face in each level. Whereas, in the minature game, there are no levels, but the game can be seen to go on for a long time depending on what is rolled on the dice and waiting for the last time to reach the middle of the maze.

Aesthetics of Digital Literature

In 1994, Annie Poulx said that 'Nobody is going to sit down and read a novel on a twitchy little screen. Ever.''

In the yea 2011, we now have facilities on the internet that enable us to read books online, or have sneak previews of certain pages before we choose to buy them. Because the internet is a huge database, it has become easier to access information and the sense of 'try before you buy' can also be applied to online experiences. Portable devices such as the amazon reader, sony reader and the iPad have made it easier to read books while we are on the go, and with the use of the iPad, you can highlight words you don't understand and a yellow box will come up with the definition of that word. Before this, we would have had to go to a dictionary to to look up a word. E book devices also save paper and energy, as one device can have several functions.

How do we archive the Internet?

An Archive is described as 'a collection of computer files that have been packed for back up. An archive can have a simple list f files or files organized under a directory of catalog structure'. Archiving has been made easier online through the use of tagging. Tags are created by users I have even tagged this blog post, so that it's easier for me to find when I come back to it.



We live in a world were most archives have developed and moved on from paper documents to online files, or online archives. When I was in primary school, I used to go to the library to find and read books, but now the internet has made it easier for me to find and read books online. You can also read books on the go with the iPad, and with the help of the internet and touch screen facilities, you can highlight words you don't understand and a yellow box will appear telling you the meaning of the word.  You have more freedom here, because you choose which links to click on. This saves times and energy from the old days of having to look up a word in a dictionary. The use of the iPad means that there are a several different archives on one device.

Even things such things as newspapers now have online archives through the use of the online versions of newspapers. We have easy access to older versions of newspapers online just by typing a word that has been tagged, instead of going to a large building and spending hours on end looking for a particle issue of a newspaper.

Text is the only thing we archive on the internet. We also archive pictures on sites such as Flickr and Photobucket. You could even say that the photo albums on facebook are also a type of way to archive our pictures online - again, using tagging as a way to organize the different types of data. Facebook has created a new feature where you can see an archive of photos that were taken with you and a particular friend/s, thus, enhancing the tagging feature on facebook.

How Are We Immersed In The Virtual World?

Joseph Nechvatal describes Imersion as 'the state of consciousness where awareness of phyiscal self is dimished or lost by surrounded in an engrossing total environment; often artificial'


When we are in the virtual world, we are 'immersed' in it. We often see the real world represented in the virtual world through things such as satelliete and world atlas view, but hhis is not how we experience the real world. Advances in technology through the use of google street view, closes the boundary between the how the real world can be represented in the virtual world. We become involved in the world we are taking part in.
 When we watch a film in 3D, are we still aware of out bodies or do we become immersed in the 3D world? Or a bit of both?

Osmose has 12 worlds or 'layers' seen through a head mounted display. What we see in osmose still depends on the your movements, and bodily functions, for example, breathing and changing direction. During Osmosis, all of your body and senses are Imersed. Everything you do in that world is affected in this world. You determine what you want to see in Osmose rather than in a movie where the director determines what you see. You create your own narrative in osmose compared to a movie where the narrative is already decided, and you have chocie but to immerse yourself in something that has already been given to you. In a sense, you could say Osmose gives you more freedom to create what you want to see rather than having to work with what you already have. For example in Osmose you are the only person - there is no other 'you', compared to a world like 'sim's or 'second life' where there is another you or 'avatar' which you have created to represent you to other people in the virtual world.

We also become Immsered through games which involve bodily functions. For example, the 'dance mat' game. You are still aware of your body, but you still become immersed in the act of dancing to achieve the full potential of the game.

How Do Artifical Intelligence Process Different Types Of Information?

Artificial intelligence respond to data that is input into them by humans. They can also be described as machines replicating humans. However, as humans, we have more intelligence than robots in that we have freedom to think. Robots respond to trigger words/phrases in order of them to carry out a command. If we talk to a machine and it responds, does it mean that it can hear us? Will humans one day develop the technology to allow robots to think for themselves? And if so, how will this change the way humans interact with each other?



Let's take two robots, Eliza and Alice. They have been given an identity through their names. They are both female. However, the way they respond is very different. Alice has been given a 3D generated face which makes it more believable that you are talking to someone. Alice is also more conversational than Eliza and is aware that she is a robot. She has also been given a more developed identity than Eliza, as Alice can tell you how old she is, where she grew up and who her programmer is. Alice is able to have a continuous conversation with you which implies some sort of memory unlike Eliza who only refers to your previous statement, repeats certain phrases and asks you a lot of question.These forms of AI respond to human emotions found in everyday conversations. You could say these forms of AI were designed to replicate the way humans interact and think.

Robots can also be used to advertise certain branded products through the use of social networking. These type of robots respond to information through the use of trigger words or key phrases. For example, someone could post a tweet about containing the word 'skin' or 'pimple' and automatically get a reply from a bot trying to sell them the latest skin care products and encouraging them to click on the link. But as humans, we know the person trying to sell this skincare product to us a robot. The robot could come up several times depending how many times you use the trigger words and the robot would say the same thing each time.

Search Engines are also a type of Artificial Intelligence, although they are are softer than robots.Instead of being created to think like us, search engines make life more easier for humans by processing large amounts of information. Search engines also react to trigger words and phrases by us, but on a much larger scale than would be available on a social networking site.

How do we interact with Design?

The user interface is the in which people interact with a machine, device, or programme. In 'User interface design' (2005) Souren Lausen describes user interface as 'the part of the sysytem you see hear and feel.' The user interface also allows people to control a system by putting in information which responds to the person's activity. Interface design's such as the command line allowed people to type instructions for a machine to follow. The command line was a text only user face. This differs from the way people input information through graphical interface or using the mouse. The graphical user interface is more user friendly. Instead of text, the graphical interface uses graphical icons and visiual indicators, allowing people to interact with a system in more ways than than before. Graphical interface aslo developed the use of colours which can enhance a person's experience when using the design interface. The colour scheme for a site such a facebook is white and blue. The colour scheme for myspace is also white and blue, but allows people the option to change their background colour to create a new experience. The creation of the mouse pointer by Douglas Engelbart works with the graphical interface. Users are able to see the mouse as a cursor on the screen and are able to click on information created by links.

Handheld devices such as the iPhone has enhanced the interaction between people and mechanical devices. With the increase invention of the touch type screen feature, people are able to use their finger or a pen as a cursor to directly control what they see on the screen. They have the ability to control what they see even when they are on the go.

Are we becoming Cyborgs?

A cyborg - the short term for cybernetic organism is being that is made up of both mechanical and human body parts. Cyborgs are commonly used in Sci-fi programmes and they are often portrayed as having abilites that superceed a human's ability, as a result of technology.

How much privacy do we have online?

With the increase in search engines and social networking sites, how much privacy do we really have online? Apprently, not alot.

It all starts off with how much information we choose to put on line. Even if a person decides to write a blog, they can upload a picture of themselves and a write a short bio of themselves. The blog itself acts as an diary, with added features, such as the abilty to add pictures and videos, and of course the tagging tool. However, because it is an 'online diary' they share their personal thoughts, and could include name places and their location, making it easy for people to find them. They could also mention names of people who may be recognized by the people reading the blog posts.

Perhaps it's also the fact that people are naturally willing to share more information online. Some people put in information about themselves on facebook without a second fault. Do they have the right to be upset if the information they made available is used by third parties?

Facebook is a social networking site which has had numerous contrroversy over their privacy controls. There have been some times where users seem to be 'forced' to share information about themselves, that they wouldn't want people who are not on their friends list to see. However, recently, facebook have decided to temporaraily disable the feature for users to share their address and mobile number to third parties.

More of the story is here

How has language evolved?

Web 2.0 has allowed people to communicate more with other. This includes sharing and working together to produce information within the 'online community.' The online community even have their own language which differs to normal lanugage. The words used in cyberspace are often shortened words of everyday words, because the user is normally typing, and does this to save time. It is also used more by the younger generation who are more familiar with technology and creating this language could make them feel as if they belong in this community, because they understand what's going on inside it. This language has also become intergrated within everyday language. A text message could read something like 'How r u, wht u gt plnned 2day?' Reading 'How are you, what have you got planned today?

Language has also evolved through the use of 'emoticons' - using punctuation to create facial expressions, although on the screen they will appear sideways. Upgraded uses of emoticons which can be seen on places like msn or blackberry messenger are more graphic, and can either be static or animated.

Available emoticons for use on MSN 

 
This lanugage has also led some people to believe that the proper use of english is being lost, and is contributing to the reason why the younger generation are finding it harder and harder write english.

Is all Web 2.0 Useful?

Terry flew ('New media - 3rd edition') described the difference between web 1.0 and 2.0 as "move from personal websites to blogs and blog site aggregation, from publishing to participation, from web content as the outcome of large up-front investment to an ongoing and interactive process, and from content management systems to links based on tagging'' 

Web 2.0 is arguably the updated version of web 1.0. With the help of broandband and wireless connections we have moved on from simple web pages, HTML, limited graphics and hyperlinks to modern interfaces, social networking such as facebook and twitter and an increase in user generated content such as youtube, wikipedia and blogging. The web, which was once used to link information together is now used to link people together to share information. In Web 2.0, the user is more involved. The user chooses what they upload and user chooses what information they want to find out. Web 2.0 allows users to communicate and network with each other more than before. Social networking websites such as facebook and twitter provide entertainment but also act as a means to spread worldwide news, and increase marketing and advertising sales.

However, although web 2.0 is useful, there are still some things to consider. The web is not regulated therefore, anyone can upload content and share it all over the world, without necessarily asking for permission to upload it if the image doesn't belong to the user.

How has technology become more intergrated with real life?

Cyberspace was once a place which only took place online. Now with the increasing development of technology, it can be argued that some forms of cyberspace are starting to become part of everyday reality.

In the 'Hacker Crackdown' Bruce Sterling described cyberspace as ' as the `place` where a telephone conversation appears to occur. Not inside your actual phone, the plastic device on your desk. Not inside the other person's phone, in some other city. _The_place_between_ the phones. The indefinate place _out_there_, where the two of you, human beings, actually meet and communicate.

With the growth of technology, real life space is merging with virtual life space to create augmented reality- A 3D space which reacts to a person's movements to change the perception of what they see. This makes the barrier between cyberspace and reality closer to the person.You would need a camera, compass or markers to be used on location.

Here are some videos I found using augmented reality

Who are we when we are in cyberspace?

As technology, and the way we use it have changed, our identites online have also changed over time. We have the power to create another 'us' through cyberspace, perhaps sometimes creating the person we would rather want to be online, instead of real life.

Chat room's allowed people to communicate with each other, giving the feeling of 'online community'. You selected the room you wanted to be with and communicate with people aslo in that room. Your had your 'username', allowing people to identify who are are.

An example of a chat room conversation taking place

An example of AOL chat room names

Homepages were also a popular tool used by people to create and share information about themselves with other people online. This allowed the developlment of personal identity and  freedom of expression, as they could write a description of themselves, as well as uploading photos of themselves and their family/friends. People visiting the website would have the option to 'sign' the guestbook, where they could leave a comment. This could be seen as the equivalent of facebook when you write on someone's wall. Facbook can be seen as the updated version of a personal homepage with added features such as 'tagging' and 'updating your status'. Perhaps the major difference between facebook and the homepage is you had more control over what you wanted your readers to see on your hompeage. Although facebook has privacy settings, there are still some information that you could be sharing without your knowledge. There were various hompage hosts such as geocites, freewebs, and piczo, ect, many of which have now closed down.

There are also Virtual reality games such as SIMS and second life where you can create a a whole new world and identity with the use of 3D graphics. You might also be able to chat to other real life people online. Some people may even meet up online but be dissapointed as they might not be who they portrayed online in real life.

Second life

SIM's