WEEK 9 TUTE

WELL I'M NOT 100% SURE WHAT THIS WEEKS TASK IS..
BUT I THINK IT WAS SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF PUT A PICTURE OF A PIECE OF ARTWORK THAT WE'VE DONE ON THERE.
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

BUT CONSIDERING I'M NOT MUCH OF AN ARTIST.
+well the drawing part of art anyway - i can do it, but putting in plainly - theyre pretty shit.
ALTHOUGH - check out my sketchast drawings - are they pro or what?
SO... HAVING SAID THAT...
I DECIDED I'D PUT UP PHOTOS OF MY TEXTILES WORK.
AND IF THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH.... WELL....
ITS GOING TO HAVE TO BE. :)

MY WORK

nah but i can safely say i do get my textiles talents from my mum...
shes always been good at it.
she taught tafe for a while and was a dressmaker for ages.
so naturally i learnt how to do it...
and of course i got her help with some of my projects.

i couldnt really pick a favourite piece - i like them all because they are so different:
the first 3 were for year 10 - so they actually meant something. the other 2 werent AS important.
1. PATCHWORK CUSHION: its bright and colourful and different..
2. PHOTO QUILLOW: this was my Year 10 major work, its a quilt that folds up into a pillow - (easy transportation). but this blanket has photos of my friends all over it. really interesting concept. coat some material in this special solution... iron it to this freezer paper stuff and then print it, like from the computer... im still fascinated by it.
3. TEDDY BEAR: man these things are so hard to make - all fidgety and shit. when you make it you have to get the grain of the fur going in the right direction otherwise it doesnt work out - was pretty stressful.
4. RAINBOW ZEBRA: this one was quite simple to make, well in theory anyway - i cut out the shape of the zebra from the stencil, kindve just stitched them together and stuffed it with stuffing - see it seems quite simple in theory, but it was a bit harder than that.
+ this was the only one where i resorted to a stencil.
5. RAG DOLL: well mum did most of this one because it wasnt for school.
this thing has scared me so many times... the worst was one night after i'd watched the ring - and i woke up in the middle of the night and all i saw was the doll and long black hair.... i didnt sleep the rest of the night and if i thought i would sleep i kept my light on.

Of course i have done many more projects... but its kindve hard when i live in goldy and chances are they are back in nambucca at mums place... somewhere in that mess of a room.


MY FRIENDS YEAR 12 MAJOR ART WORK:

i know these probably look twisted... but i find them amazing
- really interesting...
they are the type of artwork which is open for interpretation...

WEEK 9 LECTURE

JASONS ALL EVERYTHING, GIGANTIC AND SUPER LECTURE ON HOW TO TEACH YOURSELF SOFTWARE.

SOFTWARE EXAMPLE: ADOBE FLASH
+ almost all movie sites are made in Adobe Flash. Corportations who want to make sites or anything with graphic or dynamic content tent to use Adobe Flash.

1. Begin by figuring out what you need to do.
well der... how else would you get started????

2. PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY "NEWBS":
- they dont actually know what they need to do
- havent explored enough of the software - create something they think is amazing but marker or employer has high expectations
anyone who denies that the above hasnt happened to them before is a liar - it will have happened to everyone at some stage in their life

3. Software is impossible to learn in just a few days.
> Software is designed to be deep ( good software has a lot of deep levels )
im sure everyone will claim this statement is true, but there is absolutely no way you could learn an entire program in a few days.
+chances are that by the time you actually finish learning it - a new and better version will be available.

4. The best way to begin learning is to play around and explore the software
- you will no doubt get lost real quick.
- begin by finding common features amongst all software
e.g. open, save, cut, paste, colour fill, eraser
- approx 15-20% of software is known just because of common features knowledge.

6. Every time you save a document, dont save over the same file
SAVE MULTIPLE VERSIONS.
i would do that, but then i'd have copious amounts of files on the computer.

7. Use the help section - even though it sucks.
+ Although the help section is generally for medium to advanced users because of the level of terminology and deep description- tends to be used for clarification.
I HATE THE HELP SECTION FOR ANY PROGRAM!!!! IT IS OF NO USE TO ME
+ Search the internet for help with software - you could begin by typing phrases and hoping for the best... or you could type descriptive phrases and key words to help refine the search.
+ If you find a site, dont just skim over it, use the search bar.
see im the kind of person to just have a quick browse and move on, sometimes im just too impatient or pre-occupied to bother.

WHEN USING SOFTWARE: dont get bogged down on one thing - try something different = when it doesnt work move on.
e.g. RACQ: try different methods of breaking into a car each time one fails.

DONT BUY ANYTHING: SOFTWARE OR TUTORIAL BOOKS.... ANYTHING! BECAUSE CHANCES ARE YOU CAN FIND THE SAME THING ON THE NET FOR FREE, OR EVEN DOWNLOAD A FREEWARE APPLICATION WHICH WILL HELP YOU WITH THE SAME THING.
+ There are lots of video tutorials out there on the net - its just a matter of finding them.

TO BE ABLE TO TEACH YOURSELF SOFTWARE IS A GREAT WAY TO LEARN HOW TO USE A PROGRAM YOUR OWN WAY
You never know, you could stumble across something amazing that nobody knows about.

TIPS AND TRICKS:
+ if something is very easy to do using software -it means that everyone else is doing it too
how un-original and boring! LAME = look for whats cliche and whats not!
+ When playing around - be careful

WEEK 8 TUTE

MAN SO MUCH TO DO IN SO LITTLE TIME.

• Sign an e-petition

+http://www.nswrightsatwork.com.au/nomoreworkplacedeaths/index.php
+ e-petition to send Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and NSW Minister Joe Tripodi a clear message: 'No More Workplace Deaths'.
> i attempted to sign an e-petition about something in QLD, but because i still have my NSW license, i wasnt sure that i could sign it due to not technically being a QLD resident.

• Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site.

+ okay so i dont think it was a professional blogger, but it was on a major news site:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/10/letterman-the-law-sexual-harrasment.html
+ well considering the two of them are co-workers. there was bound to be some controversy. but in relation to it being "wrong," sure it was unprofessional, but who are we to interfere with "celebrities" personal lives.i dont really care what goes on in the life of the rich and famous - so really... whats it to any of us?

• What is Barak Obama up to today?

+ 23/09/09: President Obama’s Address to U.N. General Assembly...
President Obama spoke before the 64th session of the United Nations General assembly about the previous skepticism and distrust by the American people towards U.S policies, unilateral action or misperceptions and misinformation. In response, “This has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for collective inaction,” he said.

"We have reached a pivotal moment. The United States stands ready to begin a new chapter of international cooperation -- one that recognizes the rights and responsibilities of all nations. And so, with confidence in our cause, and with a commitment to our values, we call on all nations to join us in building the future that our people so richly deserve."

• Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are.

+ LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE (SOUTHPORT): Peter Lawlor
> http://www.peterlawlor.com.au/

+ STATE REPRESENTATIVE (QUEENSLAND): Anna Bligh
> http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/

+ FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE (AUSTRALIA): Kevin Rudd
> http://www.alp.org.au/
> http://www.kevinpm.com.au/



These are so totally wrong, but i thought having something would be better than having nothing. Ive found so many different sites saying all these different things about a number of different people and parliamentary figures, and i didnt know which one to choose.
So i settled for the main figures which everyone knows about - well at least everyone should know about them.

• Look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament.

+ The last time Peter Lawlor spoke in parliament was on the 22nd of September. It was in relation to how the Queensland tourism industry is suffering from the current economic climate. This speech was based around a tactic by Public Relations staff, to promote holidays in Queensland to help boost the economy of the state. Basically it could be seen as a way to promote the Labor Government in a positive way.
+ http://www.peterlawlor.com.au/southport/pages/posts/ministerial-statement-tourism-industry4923.php

• Let your local member know what you think about their last speech.

I pretty much let him know that i agree with how the Queensland Government has gone about promoting tourism in Queensland - mainly because as he said many people rely on the tourism industry for their livelihood, also tourism flows into other industries, which is vital for the economy.

My only concern would be how the Government plan on spending the money gained from the 5 week unreal deals campaign.

• Read the lecture and the readings, pursue a couple of the topics that you find most interesting and then post your blog with your well-considered thoughts about the theory and practice of politics.

Refer to the lecture blog post for elaborated notes. :)

What do you think of the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")???
+ The Government plans to introduce a two-tiered censorship system of filtering from the ISPs' end. The first tier would be compulsory for all Australians and would block all "illegal material", as determined by a blacklist of 10,000 sites administered by ACMA.
+ The second tier, which is optional, would filter out content deemed inappropriate for children, such as pornography. Experts say this second tier will have the most marked effect on network performance because every piece of traffic handled by the ISP will need to be analysed for "inappropriate" content.
+ I disagree with their plans to do this because:
> copious amounts of money ($44 million) has already been spent trying to implement this plan, with no guarantee it will actually go ahead.
> it will slow down internet speeds. (down 30%)
> and who says what should be prohibited and what is deemed appropriate? (granted there are things that a general consensus will agree should be banned, but ideas will always differ)
- Censoring the internet would go against the ideals of representative democracy.

What place does censorship have in a democracy?
+ According to Mark Mercer (The Ottawa Citizen) censorship is deemed impossible. He says that "In a democracy marked by the rule of law, evidence against a person in a court or facing a board or tribunal must be available for public inspection. Within that fact lies the fundamental incoherence of censorship in a democracy marked by the rule of law."
+ The example he used was from a hypothetical court case: "The evidence before the censor includes the words or images themselves that are at issue. But as that evidence must be available to the public, those words or images can be reproduced by whoever wishes to reproduce them. And so the words or images stay inbounds, even should the censor rule them out of bounds."
- my interpretation of this passage is that, no matter what is censored and how it is censored, a number of people will have already seen it and something will always slip through the cracks. What will happen when more and more starts to slip through? Then millions of dollars will have been wasted on something which only worked for a short period of time.
Mercer, M, 2009, The Ottawa Citizen: Why Censorship is Impossible in a Democracy, http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/censorship+impossible+democracy/1696194/story.html

WEEK 8 LECTURE

STEPHEN STOCKWELL.
DIGITISED READINGS:

• Mark Poster's 'Cyber Democracy'

• Stephen Stockwell and Adam Muir 'The Military-Entertainment Complex: A New Facet of Information Warfare', Fibreculture Journal 1(1), 2003.

1. INFORMATION WARFARE: facit of warfare since ancient times.
   

• Stephen Stockwell We’re all hackers now: Doing global democracy, CreateWorld, AUC-Griffith University, 7-10 December 2008

1. The nature of democracy is changing.
2. As a shift occurs to global media apparatus - it creates next level of political institutions
3. GLOBAL SCALE: individuals involve themselves.
   

• William Gibson's 'Burning Chrome' from the short story collection Burning Chrome. The book is in the GU library and there is a link to the full-text of the book is at the bottom of this webpage. 'Burning Chrome' is the last story in the collection.

1. "CYBER PUNK:" literary genre - around growth of computers.
2. Political formation generated by New Communication technologies.
   

• Allegory of Plato's cave - written almost two and a half thousand years ago, this account of people watching flickering on the cave wall and trying to discern the truth has a contemporary ring to it!

FOUND OUT WE MUST READ ALLEGORY OF PLATO's CAVE -> QUESTIONS ON IT IN THE EXAM.

CYBERPOLITICS: Politics of the internet that exists predominantly on the internet.
> ICANN - voluntary society controls protocols and data which internet operates

E-DEMOCRACY: Internets intervention and contribution to real world politics that predominantly exists off the internet. Generally covers everything from political campaigning and the governments use of the internet to raise awareness and debate on issues

GAPS IN THE MASS MEDIA: THE PUBLIC SPHERE
With the increasing "control" the mass media has over society, avenues for democratic participation in existing representative democracy have become scarce.
A number of theorists have argued that there is the potential to remake what Habermas calls 'the public sphere': the domain of social lift in which 'public opinion' forms.

"Habermas argues that commercialisation of the press in the nineteenth century saw the transformation of the public sphere, and its newspapers in particular, from the journalism of private persons to 'the consumer services of the mass media' which privileged the private interests of owners and advertisers. Nevertheless he sees some potential for the recreation of the public sphere as 'a public of organized private persons' engaged in the rationalisation of social and political power through mutual control of rival organisations which exhibit 'publicness' in their internal structure and in their dealings with the state and each other."
> Mark Posters developed an argument layed out by Marshall McLuhan, and claims that we are witnessing the development of THE SECOND MEDIA AGE which is the substitution for the first media age of centralised broadcast media orginating from minimal sources to a number of consumers. The second media age is characterised by decentred media systems with global reach that will eventually be readily accessible to all and so produce a new politics based on the communication of many to many.

FREE SPEECH AND CENSORSHIP
The net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it
The ability to convince and the willingness to be convinced are to elements that provide the give and take that makes democracy something for all citizens, but with all that, access to free speech is required.
Is free speech a basic right? Up until recently we didnt have anything which remotely replicated free speech. The High Court found that free political expression was implied by the constitution. We might view free speech as a self-correcting mechanism = in using free speech, people make democracy happen.
Free speech and censorship on the net has taken many strange turns.
> Many would argue that these two ideas are contradictory - to censor the internet would be to remove the notion of "free speech." But as previously stated, free speech is not a constitutional right for us, so therefore anything explicit or otherwise can be censored.

CYBERPUNK:
Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre based in the possibilities inherent in computers, genetics, body modifications and corporate developments in the near future. The word comes from the merger of Cybernetics (the study of communication, command and control in living organisms, machines and organisations) and Punk (a style of fast, loud, short rock music with an anarchist political philosophy and DIY, anti-expert, 'seize the day' approach to life).

The term cybernetics comes from the Greek kybernetes which means steersman or pilot. Punk was represented in the music of bands such as Sex Pistols, Clash and Black Assassins.

Cyberpunk developed as a reaction against the over-blown and predominantly safe stores of 'space opera' such as Star Wars. Common themes include hackers vs corporations, artificial intelligence and cities out of control and post-industrial dystopias dissected with film noir sensibility.

QUOTE: The internet "the place where pedos hang out."
+ the internet is about alot more than social networking sites, and search engines. Politics and other media issues are there but rarely accessed. Its full of information and forums and applications but nobody has the time to explore it all.

WEEK 7 TUTE

DOWNLOADED FREEWARE APP:

After hearing Jasons rant about freeware software, i knew i had to try it (not just because it was one of the blog tasks). Although i was still a bit apprehensive, considering the amount of viruses and all that sort of thing circulating the net these days. Viruses just waiting to attack young innocent victims such as myself.... Ahh but it turns out that was no issue at all.

Maybe i was just one of the lucky ones......

Okay, so considering im always getting music for my iPod, and sometimes its so hard... well not hard as such... its more about the fact that sometimes it takes so long to transfer them off one computer to a USB stick, onto the other computer and THEN onto the iPod. I started to wonder if you could transfer music from an iPod to your computer.... My brother is all technological and crap and told me you could.. so i thought i'd suss it out.

I found a few freeware applications that successfully execute this function. But the one i decided to try was called iPod To Computer Transfer Safe (how ironic). It explained that iTunes only allowed music to transfer from PC to iPod (which i never knew), but this program allowed me to transfer from iPod to PC and then sync the songs to iTunes. So it worked... then there it was: "to continue using this program and to be able to explore more functions, download this program to accompany your already freeware for just a small. **SMALL FEE MY ASS.**

But on the bright side.... I can still use it... I just need to close it and re-open it once i hit my limit of songs transferred. Honestly, when you think about it, how often will you need to transfer copious amounts of music from your iPod everytime. So this program will suffice.

http://www.easyfreeware.com/ipod_to_computer_transfer_safe-3972-freeware.html

WEEK 7 LECTURE

OPEN AND CLOSED SOFTWARE SOURCES. DOWNLOADING SITES:
www.minova.org

- Download Movies, TV shows, music, software and more. Minova is the largest BitTorrent search engine and directory on the net with thousands of torrents



BitTorrent: breaks apart files into smaller pieces and allows you to download from hundreds of users (seeds)

: revolutionised file sharing "stuff"


MOST CONTENT IS ILLEGAL

CRACKED - home style programmer removes security codes which enables downloads.

SOFTWARE...
The whole adobe program costs at least $2000
- why pay that much when you are able to download for free from a number of sites?

> though you are exposed to many risks - could be fined or sued........

MICROSOFT: Everyone has been bitten in the ass by Microsoft at some stage....
"Open a file... Blue screen of death appears... Lose important essay... Cry and quit school... Start Crack... Become crack whore... Lose a leg... Write inspirational book... Get on television... Get shot... That becomes your life..."

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE: opens the code to everybody... WHY? ability to tweek, now able to put on additional add-ons.

www.portableapps.com

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE - 'freeware'

- Apps are modified to run on a memory stick.

SOFTWARE IS GOING 2 DIRECTIONS:

1. All software will run online

2. All apps on memory stick not a computer ALTERNATIVE APPLICATIONS:


- OPEN OFFICE: full suite of office programs - no need for microsoft office



- GIMP: GNU Image Manipulation Program
+Customisable interface, Photo enhancement, barrell distortion, digital retouching, hardware support



- BLENDER: software for 3D modelling, animation etc.




"THESE ARE TOTALLY FREE"

www.sourceforge.net
- people make software and offer the actual RAW file, which includes the actual code, which allows you to go in and modify it there.
www.freewaregenius.com
- goes through and reviews files - able to provide software packages for specific minor things
e.g.
+ an application just to resize photos... give your dimensions and it resizes the photos for you and saves the new file.
+ double vision: watch web while you work... "ghost video"

www.download.com
- claims to be open source
- not as good
- alot of stuff you actually need to pay for.
- when you download stuff, half the time you only download demos.
= FREE TO TRY

LONG TERM ISSUES WITH OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE:
- everything these days are driven by software
- viruses = counteracted by fact its all transparent.
- must manually update yourself - not automatic updates like many programs.
- ECONOMY: nobody makes money, one way to fix would be donations...
BUT WHO DOES THAT?
SOLUTION?
- intention on implementing a system where everybody in the country who has a mobile phone pays an extra $10 or $20 a month and everytime a song is shared the money is distributed amongst companies.
- Micro charging: give someone little bit of money for applications.

THE BIGGEST ISSUE WITH OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE IS THAT NOBODY GIVES A SHIT. - nobody cares where software comes from, as long as they have a program and it works.

WEEK 5/6 TUTORIAL

iReport video:
HOLD UP AT LOCAL RETAIL OUTLET CAUGHT ON CCTV.
OFFENDER STILL AT LARGE


i am so happy with the way my iReport video turned out.
ahh i laugh every time i watch it.
so the story behind it is that i was at work and remembered we sold balaclavas and had a gun shaped belt buckle somewhere.
thats when i thought staging a hold up would be prime. :)
low and behold --- we did it. ^^
jules helped me edit the ending - which is just like icing on the cake

www.sketchcast.com
1.


okay so this is my first sketch.
i was too scared to keep going, incase i ruined it, so i left it at that. :)


2.


k so its kindve a little retarted.... but you get that.


GOOGLE MAP
i also worked on my map.
WOO! GO ME!
it was quite a productive lesson this week.
mine is so hectic.
ITS ABOUT MY LIFE:


View MY LIFE in a larger map


BUUUUUT....

I DIDNT KNOW HOW TO UPLOAD MY OWN PHOTOS INTO IT THOUGH.
I TRIED EVERYTHING... I EVEN GOT COMPUTER WIZZ JULES TO TRY AND HELP ME. BUT IT TOLD ME I COULD ONLY PUT PHOTOS FROM THE NET ON THERE.
WHICH WAS A BIT DISAPPOINTING.

SO I DECIDED TO PUT A FEW HERE - BUT SOME I DONT HAVE PICTURES FOR.

anyway - the map contains information on....

+ HOUSES IVE LIVED IN: there have been quite a few.
SYDNEY
MACKSVILLE
NAMBUCCA x3
1.
VALLA (DADS)
SYDNEY (DADS)
GOLD COAST

+ COUNTRIES/PLACES IVE BEEN TO: again... quite a few

JAPAN


NOUMEA (cruise)
LIFOU (cruise)
VANUATU (cruise) -- weather turned a bit shit at one stage.. but it was all goood fun.


BALI



JINDABYNE/SMIGGINS/PERISHER BLUE


+ SCHOOLS IVE ATTENDED: not so many.

ST PATRICKS PRIMARY, MACKSVILLE


JOHN PAUL COLLEGE, COFFS HARBOUR


GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, GOLD COAST




Personas, Metropath(ologies): An installation by Aaron Zinman
http://personas.media.mit.edu/personasWeb.html

BRITT RAMSEY IS THE NEW CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST FOR THE MOUNT VERNON OFFICE

I ONLY GOT ONE RESPONSE.... AND I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HELL IT IS IN RELATION TO....
WHAT IS THIS?
HAHAHAHA.
DISAPPOINTED

WEEK 6 LECTURE

I FOUND THIS LECTURE ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING.
ACTUALLY THAT'S A LIE - I FIND THEM ALL QUITE INTERESTING.

CONSUMPTION		PRODUCTION
BIG SCREEN	SMALL SCREEN	FAN FILM – biggest form of “produsage” we have today TROOPS – consumers of star wars producing content in the star wars “universe” and re-laying it to the “same audience” [like-minded folk] + No money in it at the moment + www.fanfilms.net
CINEMA – being first means of moving image. + early cinema = news reels + [shared experience]	PERSONAL MEDIA PLAYER [iPod] - tethered to old media - ability to consume media “on-the-go” + ONE PROBLEM – Needs to be pre-loaded
TELEVISION – [shared, but also private] + televisions were hell expenno to purchase, so maybe one household in the street would have one and that would be the communal place to watch the news [shared] + able to be private if nobody was home.	MOBILE PHONES [“smart phones”] – not just for calling. “on-the-fly” 3G - information (yes) -entertainment (yes) and (no) – ability to access what I want, when I want without needing to pre-load data INFORMATION: websites, etc ENTERTAINMENT: data transfer rates limit content + PROBLEMS + . Gap in content availability . Cost . Can’t produce suitable content for 3G portals LIMITS TO MOBILE DOWNLOADING: - all entertainment today is at least half an hour in length > traditional length of entertainment.	MASH UPS RE-GENRES [www.thetrailermash.com] RE-CUTS - about understanding a niche audience and creating content
PERSONAL COMPUTER – used to be private, now computers have moved from office to lounge rooms. [hence, private - shared] + Advent of the 2 way pipeline, able to consume media but also produce and share.		MOBILE MOVIES: - main problem is sound quality [once you move about a metre from the phone, sound is limited and becomes static and crackly] www.ireport.com "iReport.com is a user-generated site. That means the stories submitted by uses are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post. Only stories marked, "On CNN" have been vetted for use in CNN news coverage." 'CULTURE JAMMING'

CONVERGENCE THEORISTS SAY: TV AND COMPUTER WILL EVENTUALLY "INTERTWINE"

www.fanfilms.net : This site is a place to check out home made spoofs of almost any movie you can think of. One form of produsage.
this was the one he showed us in the lecture...
280 Days Later - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5ELvzHa7gM


but the site i liked more is www.thetrailermash.com
This is a website totally devoted to collecting re-cut trailers and trailer mash-ups.
Josh showed us 'The Shining' in the lecture... absolute classic. who would ever think to make the shining into a romantic comedy. haha.