Recap of the Year.

Digital Cultures has been a very educational 1^st year for me where I have learnt many key facts about how, the internet was set up, how computers became to be invented in the first place and, the real definition of hackers. All these things were oblivious to my knowledge before or very vague to start with.

I am very happy to say that my blogs have been very insightful and if not interesting haha, but factual at least. When making each blog I careful took time in researching and discovering each aspect of the week and, took into consideration what I thought people would find interesting.  

The most interesting and exciting topic for me this year was when we learnt about mind uploading and also, terms and conditions of  company webpages. I really enjoyed hearing about how in the future people have already equipped the technology to upload people’s mind on to digital hardware, which will allow us to store our thoughts forever. I found the information very intriguing and, stimulating as I thought it was about technology that would never be capable of existing.

I also 

thought that the facts about how terms and conditions work to be a big revelation. As I now once you click ‘yes’ to the terms and conditions that is it. For example every picture you upload on to ‘your’ Facebook wall, belongs to Facebook. Because somewhere in the terms and condition you clicked saying it would be OK  for them to use your images or for them to have the rights of whatever they please to do with them. As much as you read it, there is nothing you can do to change it so I find it very interesting for that there is even a rule like that in the first place.

I have found this first year of digital culture very mind stimulating and factual. Everything I have learnt, I have taken into account and will not forget it any time soon.  

Wait one second! Did I forget something?

In this blog I am going to discuss something which I think was left out of this year’s teaching of digital cultures and, would be relevant for future students.

Digital cultures 1^st year is a very unique subject where you learn about virtually everything there is to know about the web and other technologies such as, mobile phones. Gavin Stewart told us about how his class from way back when, said that it would be crazy if we would all have personal computers and also, we would go to sleep with our mobile phones so close by to us. But as time has passed that’s exactly what has happen so I am very interested to see what else the future and technology has to offer us.

But what I am really interested about and think was missing from this year’s teaching was the history and the next steps for games consoles. I mean the topic was kind of covered this year in terms of talking about video games and it’s history of pong being the first ever video game. But I want to know more about Sony’s first conceptions of their PlayStation 1 and, why Xbox decided to start rivalling them when they did?

2013 is going to be an exciting year for gamers as; we are finally going to be introducing to the next generation of gaming with the 8^th generation consoles being released later this year.  I am extremely excited to get my hands on the new PlayStation 4 and I would of liked to learn some in depth detail about the console history, and its likely future was heading. Also what 9^th and 10^th generation might be planning, when it is their turn to be unveiled?

Hopefully this content could be added to the next year’s teaching schedule and be enjoyed as much as I do.

On the gaming scene this is what is coming this year... Just imagine in 10 years time.:

Wikis Leaking?

In this week’s blog I am going to write about how wikileaks has effected in today’s world and, if the use of wikileaks is benefiting anyone?

Firstly I’ll start off by explaining what wikileaks is. “WikiLeaks is an independent, non-profit online media organization that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous sources. The WikiLeaks website was launched in 2006 by the Sunshine Press. Within a year of its launch, the site claimed a database that had grown to more than 1.2 million documents.” Reference from: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/WikiLeaks

Well why did wikileaks start off in the first place? What’s the reason for it? “The organization’s self-stated mandate explains “Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behaviour in their own governments and corporations.”-Reference from: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/WikiLeaks

Wikileaks can’t be all bad then? I mean if the website is just publishing home truths about the government and, the US government surely there must be a reason for this. Well at first I thought confident that the US government didn’t have anything to hide, I mean what secrets are there to hide? Well we all know about the war in Iraq and, Saddam Hussein, WMD, fight for oil etc. Well Wikileaks managed to find some very interesting footage about just what goes on in Iraq…

In that video is real life footage of US soldiers killing innocent Iraqis as if it were a Call of Duty™, shooting people from their aircraft. Ok people may argue and have every right to question the footage, for its authenticity.

On the Wikileaks website they claim to “We assess all news stories and test their veracity. We send a submitted document through a very detailed examination a procedure. Is it real? What elements prove it is real? Who would have the motive to fake such a document and why? We use traditional investigative journalism techniques as well as more modern rtechnology-based methods. Typically we will do a forensic analysis of the document, determine the cost of forgery, means, motive, opportunity, the claims of the apparent authoring organisation, and answer a set of other detailed questions about the document. We may also seek external verification of the document For example, for our release of the Collateral Murder video, we sent a team of journalists to Iraq to interview the victims and observers of the helicopter attack. The team obtained copies of hospital records, death certificates, eye witness statements and other corroborating evidence supporting the truth of the story. Our verification process does not mean we will never make a mistake, but so far our method has meant that WikiLeaks has correctly identified the veracity of every document it has published.

Publishing the original source material behind each of our stories is the way in which we show the public that our story is authentic. Readers don’t have to take our word for it; they can see for themselves. In this way, we also support the work of other journalism organisations, for they can view and use the original documents freely as well. Other journalists may well see an angle or detail in the document that we were not aware of in the first instance. By making the documents freely available, we hope to expand analysis and comment by all the media. Most of all, we want readers know the truth so they can make up their own minds.”- Reference: http://wikileaks.org/About.html.

To be honest it’s exactly like what the Wikileaks people say its up to the people to make their own minds up. If you choose to believe then you can if you don’t then, it is also your choice. But I think that there are millions of rumours and stories around today and barely a few questions scratch the surface, and get to be asked to the leading powers in the world today. So I say, if Wikileaks is out here giving us the truth or not let it stay up! Because the government get away with so much activities today and, leave many things unanswered so from my point of view it’s about time we questioned them for what’s really going on? And demand some answers and, Wikileaks is our best advantage of that.

For more information about the creator of Wikileaks visit: 

I Hear bout U Everywhere I Go!

In this week’s blog I am going to continue to write about how I think politics and the social media have become more entwined with each other in the sense of how easy, it is to be up-to-date with political news today.

In the manner we live today where everything is most often a click of a mouse away; the world has become much easier for us to be sync with the rest of the world and the daily news from across the global.  A major part of our lives which we like to admit it or not is politics. The reasons why we do certain things in our lives today are because of what the government officials, have allowed us to do or the laws they make in order for us to live like we do. Clearly enough most of us would like to stay in-touch with what happens in the world today and no-other news comes bigger than politics I feel.

In the past humans resorted to reading the newspaper in-order to be aware of what was going on around them and other things etc. Then the use of a radio became much easier to use as the presenters on the radio would just read out what interest stories had happened. Then the TV also was another source of information as, the television offered us news as well as visual image this became one of the most popular sources of information along with the newspaper. People going to work sitting on the tube or, on the bus couldn’t watch television on it, till one or two years ago so the newspaper seemed to be still, very useful in handy in the sense that you can read it wherever you may be.  So now we have reached an era where, searching news out on your mobile phones had become a better easier than buy a newspaper and having to flick through it all to find the news you wanted to know.

But now as our newspapers, television channels and radio stations gave us option and preference to what we actually enjoyed reading or listening so does the, option of download an app for your smartphones to allow you to be informed of the news around the world. We have evolved once again to reading news not from the paper though, from our mobile phones which saves us from buying the paper. We as humans like to do things that make it much simpler for us to live our life’s, and allow us to avoid things that may cause us to struggle obviously. With the newspaper it can be a hassle trying to read it on the bus or train especially if you haven’t got a seat or space to open it up and start reading it. Also it can be annoying when you have the sense of feeling that someone is reading over your shoulder which seems too happened a lot, when sitting on public transportation. Also if you are reading the paper outdoors and it starts to rain, the newspaper obviously cannot escape the fact that it will become ruined and no longer useful.

The mobile phone is our own personal device which people tend not to look at when you are on transportation that is public. Save you from buy the paper as it would kind of be more convenient for certain people, rather than carrying a newspaper around with you all day. Also could help prevent global warming as you’re less likely to buy the paper and then throw it away without recycling it.

To sum up what this blog was about is that the source of our information is slowly adapting for us to make it easier for us to receive it and keep us in touch with news, virtually from anywhere with internet access in the world.

See What Is Physically Not There!

In this week’s blog I am going to talk about how the world is evolving in to virtue news that can be viewed and operated by with our own current mobile phones. Augmented technology is claiming to be the future of how we read or view things in the world today so, I'm going to see if that is the case and how relevant the technology is to us.

In this day and age so far augmented reality is merely just a concept of how we will view the news and maybe stream videos sometime in the future. Right now newspapers and the internet are the fast way of finding out news or information about things the concern us, also considering the television as well. So far these technologies I speak of have been relatively good to us for some years now so, to speak of something that might surpass easiness of the use of the newspaper and maybe even searching online seems to be unheard of till now. Here’s a brief video of just what some augmented realities have to offer:

You can clearly see in the video above just how easy and convenient the technology could serve to be for us especially as, we can be able to start using it from our current mobile phones now. When things are very simple and clear to use the more likely everyone will be expected to also use it too, due to the good reviews obviously been given to it from others. But viewing this video you’re most likely thinking that this technology won’t be available for at least another two to three years but that’s where you’re wrong. Augmented reality is slowly starting to develop now as we speak and the early signs of life are, slowly creeping through.

Aurasma is a company that develops augmented reality currently and has one of its software’s, Auras actually available for download in the app store and, in the android market. For more information on what the application does and more about the company take a look at their website: http://www.aurasma.com/aura/. If you have a smartphone download the app for yourself and test out exactly what the application does for you and what you feel about it. And if you like it tell a friend to start the viral trend flowing, so you know what going on and aren’t left behind. 

Digital Politics

In this week’s blog I am going to blog about how the digital world is slowly becoming integrated with politics and how it affects the public today. I’ll start of by explaining what I mean when I say the digital world is becoming integrated with politics which is; Politicians know that by using various medias such as, television, radio and even the web to broadcast their messages out it is much more likely people will watch them or listen to them. So as time moves along becoming more technological and simplified, politics is also finding its way to adapt to the changes which the world is finding itself to be in.

‘On 26 September 1960, 70 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard Nixon in the first-ever televised presidential debate. It was the first of four televised "Great Debates" between Kennedy and Nixon. The first debate centered on domestic issues.’-reference from: www.museum.tv/. JFK and Nixon exposed the world to a new way of including politics to the lives of the public without them even leaving their own house, to find out what is going on. The so called “Great Debates” happened to be very influential in the US I say this because ‘John F. Kennedy was a relatively unknown senator from Massachusetts. He was young and Catholic — neither of which helped his image — and facing off against an incumbent. But by the end of the evening, he was a star.’ -Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2021078,00.html.

It is very clear that television has become an important tool for politicians today but, unlike the 1960s JFK proved himself to be a great character and president by using the television form of media, but in today’s world there are so many other ways that MP and the PM have to present themselves to be a worth leader.  In October 2012 British Prime Minister David Cameron opened up an account on the social networking site called, twitter. I doubt he actually wanted to open up the account himself but, obviously his P.R. manager that it would be a good idea to show the country that he is with the current times of technology. ‘The Tory leader clocked up more than 50,000 followers within hours of his debut, but was following just four other posters – the Conservative party, William Hague, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt. ’ But although he had received more than an I quote ’50,000 followers’ he then was presented with the other side of having too many people following you.  ‘David Cameron has signed up to Twitter, prompting users of the social networking site to inundate him with hundreds of hostile messages.’-Reference from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/07/david-cameron-joins-twitter.

In the UK, the 2010 general election was the first ever time the three main parties in the UK consisting of Labour party represented by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservatives represented by David Cameron and, Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg also representing his party. This was the first time ever parties in the UK had ever had the chance to go toe to toe with each other on television in the run-up before votes were casts. This was just as major and influential as JFK’s first television debate was as; Nick Clegg was also a relatively unknown name as well before emerging on the scene in 2010 taking over from former Lib Dem leader, Vince Cable. ‘Gordon Brown tended towards waffle and repetition, often seeking refuge in reams of statistics; and Nick Clegg sought to appear relaxed, confident and the voice of sweet reason, playing the other two against each other – with some success, it must be said. In terms of policy, we learned little that we did not know already. Mr Brown was weak on immigration, unconvincing on crime and perversely thinks he has a strong hand to play on the economy, despite presiding over the country's worst ever deficit. Mr Clegg had the advantage of leading a party that has not been in government for 80 years, so could not be blamed for the mistakes of the past.’-Reference: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7595960/Election-2010-Clegg-uses-first-TV-debate-to-best-effect.html

It’s clear to see that the television debate also was useful here as well, the media and public all gave Nick Clegg positive responses other than the David Cameron and definitely Gordon Brown. Politics and the media are definitely a major force in the world, and will always use the media to spread their messages to the whole world.

Do you really need this?

In this week’s blog I am going to talk about the topic that was discussed in the workshop and just another summary of how I feel about, social networking sites and how I use them. In the digital cultures workshop we had a little bit of a discussion about how we personal feel about how our friends, and people we know go about using social networking sites such as; Facebook, twitter and even, instagram.

I currently only use one social networking site which is Facebook, when I was younger I was into following the trend of having multiple social webpages where, I just used to upload pictures of myself, songs that I liked and my close friends where given a shout out. When I think back now of the websites I used to use, I see there was really no point of having one of them as the networking capabilities were no as impressive as they are today. Also the fact that you couldn’t actual make connect by having friends, to make it easier to communicate made hard, as I used to write down their websites rather than a link on my page to take me straight there.

I may sound like an old retired veteran in saying this but it’s the honest truth when I say that I’ve experienced it all in the past so, that may justify the reason to maybe why I only used Facebook now instead of using so many different social networking sites like; twitter and instagram etc. I have even become bored of Facebook’s antics which when I first started using it became amazed by how, connected everyone was and seeing nearly everyone’s posts on one page, definitely beat having to check through tons of other peoples websites to just to check an update.

Another reason why I don’t like social networking sites no more is because of the fact that they have become way to personal these days. Before all you really needed were your email address and your name and maybe even you D.O.B. But now you need to agree to the website’s bible full of rules and regulations which you clearly know you aren’t going to read.  The fact that your pictures do not even belong to any longer once you’ve uploaded them to a website is a big turn off for me personally. There is so much to think about before clicking the accept box but, we neglect from doing so because we just aren’t used to have to do it, like we did in the past. All social networking sites are coming to a point when they are becoming truly irrelevant anyways, when the majority of time people just update status by saying ‘I’m bored’ or ‘I’m having dinner now’. Just because you can write about it, it doesn’t mean you should. And even now on instagram people have shifted from writing about what they are eating or doing to now, taking a picture of it and uploading it for everyone to see. I definitely don’t see the point of doing that so I don’t see the reason of signing up to that.

To conclude I feel that social networking site are only really useful if your using it to keep in touch with friends and long distance family, they become really useful when doing group work and you want to contact all members at once. But for everyday use and reading what people are literally doing at the moment, social networking sites become a huge turn off to me.