Thursday, May 15, 2008

Comments

These are the people whose blogs i commented on:

Cinema 8- Are Social Networks divided by age/gender?

PB 201 Virtual Culutres Blog- Citizen Journalisim Pt 2

Jades Blog- Step 1 Start Blogging

Kato- Web 2.0 vs Web 1.0

Ash's KCB201 Blog- Ebay & PayPal vs. Australia

The concept of blogging

For my last blog for KCB201 i am gonig to quickly blog about my thoughts on blogging..... over the past 7 weeks i have come to learn alot.


I quite like the idea of blogging whether it be academic, personal, for entertainment or just to do something. For the past 7 weeks i have found quite alot of intersting blogs .. Some on the subject or topic i was searching for and others on fashion, makeup, celebrities- these three things are obviously alot more interesting then the topical blogs for KCB201.

Blogs allow people to write about what is important to them.. such as the recent earthquake in China, the latest fashion, their family, for eduational purposese and the list goes on. Blogging can relate to everyone. It allows people to have a voice and to voice their opinions... Some blogs may be read by others while others can simply be personal. No matter who reads your bolg, blogs allow you to get things off your chest and simply just write about what is important to you or what you find interesting.

Overall i have come to like the conept of blogging, the idea of epxressing opinions, the idea of people reading and commenting on your opinions and the idea of becoming involved in the newest media technology.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Citizen Journalism

If you type Citizen Journalisim into Google you get about 17 million results and all which describe the concept in different ways.

If you take a look at Tom Merrit's Blog for CNET.com.au it goes into detail explaining the difference of inside journalism vs outside perspective.
In his blog he suggets that todays blog is yesterdays newspaper. He also makes mention and what i deem to be very true that Websites started off the same way as blogs- Tom suggets that websites in the 1990's was a very academic or possibly a personal thing to have, by the end of the 90's it was a business venture and so the "blogs can simply be seen as a very special kind of Web site".

The concept of journalism vs outside perspective which Tom talks about in his blog describes the idea that journalists of blogs are citizens. He then goes on to describe citizen journalism as "regualr Joes with Web site, as opposed to folks who are employed by big media companies...Outsiders eventually can become insiders, and less often, insiders fall to become outsiders again"

On the other hand i found another blog which discusses Citizen Journalism however in a more negaitve way.
The blog named: Citizen journalism sucks is written by James Farmer for The Age. He seems to think that being a journalist all you need to do is write, report and publish and you are no longer a citizen but better known as a journalist. According to James Farmer "Journalism is a profession and journalism provides for the quality and breadth of content that keeps an enormous number of readers coming back for more. "

After reading both of these articles i am confused as to what i really think about citizen journalism. I do believe however that journalism is a profession and a hard one at that. To me blogging is not journalisim it is an expression of ideas and words, and i am not sure if i am sourced enough to decide on whether i think Citizen Journalism is a good or bad thing. However i do know that having a story in reagrds to a "real person" and a "real life story" is pretty interesting and if that is what citizen journalism is- well maybe i am for it.

But you should have a look at both of the articles and decide for yourselves....

Friday, May 2, 2008

Produsage- what is it

I have been very interested in the term produsage as i was unaware of what it meant and wanted to find out more.... So i looked for an article by Axel Bruns and whollaa i got what i needed...

According to Axel Bruns article “Produsage, Generation C, and Their Effects on the Democratic Process” Produsage is “the collaborative and iterative content creation practices within many user-led environments as a hybrid and often inextricable combination of production and use”.

Now to me this is very academic and hard to comprehend... so in my own words and after reading numerous sources produsage can be seen as-a term to define users of the internet who act as a mixture of both producer/users virtually throughout the production process of the internet. Axel Bruns makes mention of 4 core characteristics of produsage:

• Community-Based – produsage proceeds from the assumption that the community as
a whole, if sufficiently large and varied, can contribute more than a closed team of
producers, however qualified they may be.
• Fluid Roles – produsers participate as is appropriate to their personal skills, interests,
and knowledges, and may form loose sub-groups to focus on specific issues, topics,
or problems; this changes as the produsage project proceeds.
• Unfinished Artefacts – content artefacts in produsage projects are continually under
development, and therefore always unfinished; their development follows
evolutionary, iterative, palimpsestic paths.
• Common Property, Individual Merit – contributors permit (non-commercial)
community use, adaptation, and further development of their intellectual property, and
are rewarded by the status capital they gain through this process. (Axel Bruns)

These 4 core characteristics of Produsage help to understand the basis of which this concept. There is a virtual culture online called Second Life which is a 3D virtual world where users can socialise, connect and create using voice and text chat. This online world Second Life is a prime example of the concept Produsgae.

Second Life is all 4 of the core charaterisitcs of Produsage- Community based the community of Second Life is a community form the offline world. The producers of Second Life are also users of the virtual game. This also links into Fluid Roles- The producers participate in Second Life and they are able to become involved and find out what is working for the virtual world and what is not. The world of Second Life is continually changing and the developments in the world are evolutionary and iterative. There is also indiviual merit and common property in Second World. Actual business can tarde in this world and these business make money which can be seen as merit. There is also common property which is used by the indivduals in this virtual world.

Second Life in my opnion and in others is an interesting and perfect example of Produsage. This concept of a virtual world and people living a life online just like offline is really inertesting and only makes the concept of Produsage seem more interesting to me.


I thought i would add some photos of Second Life so you could see how real this online world really looks to the offline world.










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All 3 of these pictures show the realness of the places which are shown ... The Effiel Tower, a beach and a garden.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Social Networking

Social Networking is my favourite topic in regards to this subject KCB201 Virtual Cultures. I am sure it is my favourite as I am apart of a social network such as Facebook and can finally relate to one of the topics of this subject. So lets begin.....

Social networking web sites and online communities have emerged as a communication element for young adults in the 21st century. MySpace and Facebook are two leading popular social networking sites which offer interactive services to its users. MySpace is the most popular social networking web site in the world, offering blogs, personal profiles, network of friends, photos, music and videos.

In Robin Raskin’s article “Facebook faces its future” she outlines how Facebook compared to MySpace is one of the first social networks to have been built in exclusivity. The Facebook community is closed to anyone who doesn’t belong to an academic community for Example University. Facebook and MySpace can be seen as a networked community where members are easily “addicted” in a sense and are constantly running back to check the latest developments on the site. I can personally say I am in some ways “addicted” to Facebook, while writing this blog, I am constantly checking my wall or writing on someone else’s, in a way Facebook to me is an easy way of communication, you don’t have to talk to anyone and it is easily and readily available and you can type away while doing something else. This however can be a very scary thought, is face to face and personal interaction lacking due to the fact that social networks and online communities make it easy just to have a chat over the internet with friends rather then in person?

Social networks such as Facebook also allow friends and family to become apart of another ‘family’ via virtual communities. For instance photos from the weekend a wedding or a 21st can be uploaded onto your social network page so that friends are able to view them and comment on them. .. this is a great tool in any case as you are able to share photos and good times with your friends. Social networking especially Facebook is really a great concept.... It allows you to inertact online, chat to people, upload photos and have your own little network with friends.

The question that remains however is whether or not social networking consumers will lose their habit as they age.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

DIY MEDIA AND COLLABORATION

According to Tim Riley- If Netscape was the standard bearer for Web 1.0, Google is most certainly the standard bearer for Web 2.0. . From the researching I have done on Web 2.0 and Web 1.0 I have come to realise that there is quite a difference between the two.

These two types of the Web are seen as DIY Media and Collaboration and this is the topic for my week 7’s blog. I am new to this whole virtual cultures subject and was unaware of that there were even two different types of Web. From my understanding of Web 2.0 which was introduced by Tim Riley and from reading sources, Web 2.0 in the computer industry is a business revolution caused by the move to the internet as a platform and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that platform.

In contrast Web 1.0 in my own words is about reading, home pages, html, client-server and companies. Web 1.0 was the past and it seem that Web 2.0 is the future, with Web 2.0, being a new and improved system which provides communities, writing, blogging, peer to peer and interaction between one another on the web rather then individual concepts which is what Web 1.0 is about.

In Tim Riley’s article What is Web 2.0, he defines Web 2.0 as… Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability, Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them, Trusting users as co-developers, Lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models. The term Web 2.0 throughout my researching i have found has been frequently criticized for its suggestions of a revolutionary new stage in Internet development. However in my opinion Web 2.0 is the basis of social networking communities and online communities. There are more and more people joining Face book for example and this is due to the fact that Web 2.0 provides a community concept and is revolved around interaction.

Web 2.0 can be seen as being apart of the new DIY media and collaboration concept throughout the virtual world. According to Axel Bruns The concept of DIY is no longer new- it has emerged over the last couple of decades and has older histories such as open source software development- which is a community of developers of programmers themselves who come together to make soft ware and share the software with the rest of the world so the rest of the world can be included as well.

Web 2.0 is defiantly the new and improved internet and virtual concept of the future with interaction and peer to peer relations being the main focus. The concept of DIY media and collaboration has provided the internet and people with the opportunity to be free and to blog, interact and talk to people over the internet. This to me is the way of the future.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Online Communities

“The notion of community has been at the heart of the internet since its inception” Online communities are a social network with a common interest, idea, task or goal that interact in a virtual society across time, and organizational boundaries and is able to develop personal relationships.

The role of online communities is a partial answer to how we as individuals can deal with an abundance of information that we are now faced with in the 21st century. Online communities help us to make sense of what is out there and it helps us as individuals be a part of online communities. Online simply means expressing yourself through participations. According to Terry Flew there is an element, “found in online community networks the scope to develop new forms of community, based upon the core principles of: an inclusive, supportive and convivial culture; education for citizenship and active learning; strong democracy and active citizenship; community-based health and well-being; economic equity, opportunity and sustainability; and freely available information and participatory media” (Flew, 2004) .

With online communities you are able to be someone who you are not entirely in real life. This is the point of online communities that I personally find the most interesting and the most disturbing. You could for example in real every day, be disabled however when you are online and in a virtual community you are able to construct new forms of identity and that is one of the most attractive qualities of online communities. Most people join or are a part of an online community so they can be seen in a different aspect of life. It is quite a disturbing notion as well.. As how well do people who are a part of an online community really know each other? If someone were disabled and a part of an online community would they make that point open to everyone or would they hide it and pretend that they really are normal just like everyone else? Or does it even matter that much when you are a part of an online community and do people just like you for you and your persona which comes across virtually? The questions I have are endless on this notion of online communities.


A major advantage and the best case scenario according to Axel Burns of an online community are active communities that share an understanding of information and interests. This is implying that all individuals within online communities are a part of that community because they all share a common interest or understanding. This best case scenario for me could potentially be a major problem. Some individuals join online communities for social aspects however joining an online community with a common interest and understanding an idea could have major problems for the entire universe. Take hate groups for example there could be an entire online community centred around a hate group and this in turn could produce a major hazard for the entire universe, as online they are able to organise events and plan without other people knowing.

So when it comes down to it Online Communities can be seen as step forward in technological and virtual advances. There are some aspects to me which are a bit freakish however in the end if it helps someone feel better about themselves and they can pretend to be someone there not for a few hours or minutes a day I say embrace it as i am sure there is still much more to come in the world of online communites.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Networked People

Networked people- Week fives lecture on Network People got me wondering... What is a networked person? Am I a networked person?

Castells argues that "Networks constitute the new social morphology of our societies, and the diffusion of networking logic substantially modifies the operation and outcomes in processes of production, experience, power and culture." Castells in Flew also comments on the rise of a network society, since the 1980s a new technological and economic framework has emerged that is global, informational, and networked. This therefore can be seen to mark a transition towards an informational mode of development, and the rise of the network society, whose origins lie in the mass diffusion of ICTs, and whose consequences affect everything from “the development of cities and regions, the conduct of everyday life, workforce trends, contemporary politics, and the development of new forms of social identity”(2005: p27). It is because of this networked society that networked people are formed.

Networked people to me are people who are exposed to an abundance of information, and that information becomes greater and greater as we are exposed to more and more information, from which we learn. According to Axel Bruns a network of people can be defined as a network through which communication flows occur, that are open, flexible, and adaptable forms able to expand without limits. The concept of networking is based upon the Internet and has been the centre of claims that the current phase marks the emergence of a ‘new economy’, or a ‘network society’. Bruns also makes mentiont that the significance of a network is that it draws attention to the ongoing relations between people which are embedded in cultures, rules and norms. In a networked society we are surrounded and engage each day in continuous content of information, knowledge and meaning.

After reading various sources and thinking about what it means to be a networked person, I consider myself to be a networked person. I am a part of a networked society which surrounds me with information, knowledge and meaning on a day to day basis. I have also come to the conclusion that we are all networked people in different ways, with our society becoming more and more of a ‘new economy’ with new and improved technological advances helping us to become a networked person. Since the beginning of time, man has migrated together sharing ideas and arriving at new ideas as a result of communicating with others, networked people are an example of this people who have shared ideas and have arrived at new ideas as the result of communication between others.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

How does technology become cultural technology?

In the chapter titled "New Media as Cultural Technologies" of Terry Flew's book, technology becomes cultural technology when aspects of culture are introducedand it is used as a social tool.

"Technologies are not merely aids to human activity but also powerful forces acting to reshape that activity and its meaning"

"Technologies are the tools of artifacts, used by humans to transform fnature, enable social interaction or extend human capacities"

We use technology as an extension of our own cultural pursuits.
Eg the way we use a mobile phone. As technology, it is just what it is, and it becomes a cultural technology through the way we use it --> texting our friends

Therefore, according to Terry Flew in his chapter, technology becomes cultural technology when humans use it as a social tool. Technology becomes cultural technology when individuals make use of it to extend their social pursuits networking with other like-minded people.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Virtual Cultures

Virtual Cultures are formed through and by the internet. The internet can be seen as a carrier of culture in some ways, through virtual cultures. This concept of the internet being a "carrier" of vitrual cultures provides the individual with an abdundance of information and sees the internet being a medium where information can be found and moved around from one indivual to another.