Catfish

This film is about a young man who meets a beautiful, multi talented woman on facebook. They build a relationship purely by using network and technology. They fall in love and when he finally meets her, it all falls apart because the person he thought he was in love with does not exist. I think this particular film connects to the subject of Network Culture directly, as the guy trusted a social networking site with no doubts that the person on the other end may not be who they say. It also touches on the subject of Identity construction online, as the woman constructed her online life to be something radically different even utopian, compared to what she had in real life. As Gilbey, R. (2010) quotes the film makers “Sure, I spent a lot of time worrying if it was the right thing to put it out there. We decided it's better to share it because it's an important story, and a lot of people can learn from it.” I could not agree more that this footage should be somewhat of a lesson to the public, to be more cautious of our and other web user’s online presence.

real

pretend

Gilbey, R., 2010. Trust me, I'm a film-maker: the men behind Catfish come clean. The Guardian, [online] 20 November. Available at: < http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/nov/20/catfish-fact-or-fiction-film > [Accessed 3 December 2011].

Hyperreal

Baudrillard, J. (1981, pp 1) writes, “today abstraction is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror, or the concept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal. The territory no longer precedes the map, nor does it survive it. It is nevertheless the map that precedes the territory- precession of simulacra- that engenders the territory whose shred slowly rot across the extent of the map. It is real and not the map whose vestiges persist here and there in the deserts that are no longer those of the Empire, but outs. The desert of the real itself.” I think this quote could be suitable for an in depth description for Google Earth, because it’s a space where we can travel to almost any part of the world without having to physically travel. Google Earth is a three dimensional simulation of the real. To make the most of this hyperreal experience I decided to re-live my journey to secondary school, it was an odd experience and the journey brought up a lot of memories which I probably would not have remembered unless seeing the sights via Google Earth or in person. I think simulating something that is real can only do good for our memory, as we can’t always re visit places we wish to. 

what used to be my home

secondary school

Baudrillard, J. (1981) Simulacra and Simulation. Trans. by Faria Glaser, S. (1994). Reprint, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.

Copyright: The Digital Economy Act

What is copyright? It’s being able to have a legal right to an authorship for a piece of material and the right to control copies of it.

So the Digital Economy Act is something of a letter campaign, sending out letters to those whom illegally download music, films etc.etc.. When I first heard of this my thoughts were how will they catch out everyone who illegally downloads, because pretty much everyone does it these days.

Being a film lover myself I must confess it’s much easier to find and download a copy for free then go and spend £20 on a DVD. And when it comes to older films, it can be almost impossible to find hard copies or they are very poor quality. As a recent news update on this subject (BBC, 2011) shows “It found that only 43% of the top 50 British films can be bought or rented online while only 58% of the BAFTA Best Film awarded winners since 1960 have been made available.” The same article questions why has this Act not yet been enforced, have they come to terms that no matter what laws the government passes on people will find a way of getting around it? I guess time will show. 

Wakefield, J., 2011. Whatever happened to the Digital Economy Act?. BBC News, [online] 21 October. Available at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15390021> [Accessed 17 November 2011].

How Facebook Changed the World

It’s quite extraordinary the way people use the internet, it can be misused, underused and overused. But in this particular case a group of activists from Tunisia, have found a very good purpose for a social networking website called Facebook. As peaceful protests against the government were developing in to fights against the police, the participants filmed everything that was happening on their streets and streamed it on to Facebook.  As one of the activists points out “...the videos were broadcasted on the internet and social networks at the lightening speed, at the speed that was uncontrollable.” Using the internet worked to their advantage in terms of getting the word out to most Tunisians and Egyptians, as the state television did not report anything on protest in the country.

The reporter states that “Over the last few days the regime had watched how activists had used the internet and mobile phones to help them get tens of thousands of people on to the streets. The government’s reaction was simple it switched off the entire network, severing all online and mobile communications.” Perhaps they took such actions to prevent innocent people being killed and so there is no further violence on the streets. However this had only worked to activist’s advantage as people started to wonder what was going on and they ended up joining the protest. I personally believe that the government simply didn’t want to hear anyone who spoke out loud on how they felt about the countries leadership. It’s so refreshing to see that doing good deeds is possible with our advanced technology and a little bit of team spirit!

How Facebook Changed the World: The Arab Spring. 2011.[TV documentary] BBC, BBC2, 5 September 2011 21.00.

screen shot: https://www.facebook.com/pages/6-April-Youth-Movement/200774956609622?ref=ts

Mass Digitalization

Digital photography today has its advantages and disadvantages depending on which field of work or set of mind we have. Digital gives photographers much broader horizons in term of manipulating images and sceneries to be more appealing or intriguing for the public. As Ritchin, F. (2009, pp 23) points out “Increasingly we are looking at photographs of the map that refers to no territory: the pictures of pictures, the photo opportunities in which politicians and celebrities have their managers stage a scene as if it had actually happened, the photo illustration that magazines adroitly set up to prove a point, the advertisement for products too glossy to exist, the media filters that reduce life to shorthand of shock and voyeurism.” On the other hand, us the public are being misled by fake and over exaggerated imagery that can be found in everyday media. As Ritchin, F. (2009, pp 15) states “Digital photography has been configured as a seamless, more efficient repetition of the past, easier to sell to the apprehensive consumer even as it is celebrated as part of the “digital revolution” (a term that has joined the lexicon of consumer branding.)” So are we being sold the term digital as a glossy product? I think so. There is no need to own the latest digital camera to be able to produce good quality photographs.

Ritchin, F. (2009) After Photography. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. Chapter 1 'Into the Digital'.

MyLifeBits Pt.1

This week we carried out a debate in two groups based on a few pieces of text we have read about MyLifeBits. Each group had to gather evidence and base their argument on text as well as personal opinions of MyLifeBits.


Cherry, S. (2005, pp25) describes "At its heart, MyLifeBits is a big database on a personal computer, into which go the correspondence, keyboard-based chores, and even the sights and sounds of everyday life. It automatically swallows up and indexes e-mails, keystrokes, recorded phone calls, images, video, and every Web page that graces its user's computer screen.", so it seems like there no longer will be a need for us to use our brains to imagine certain events or recall conversations we had with other people, because this 'magical' device will have it all. Some may say this is a sign of moving forward with technology, but to me it’s the worst invention yet. 


Cherry, S. (2005). A Life Digitalized in IEEE Spectrum [PDF] Available at: <http://totalrecallbook.com/storage/IEEE%20Spectrum%200511.pdf> [Accessed 25 Oct 2011].

MyLifeBits Pt.2

As human beings we need to have ideas, imagine them and develop them in our heads. Be able to remember things our way to create pleasant memories, even if we alter them a little in our mind. We forget certain things for a reason, as Cherry, S. (2005, pp. 30) quotes ““Forgetting makes our life bearable,” Nack wrote, “and is closely related to cultural concepts, such as forgiveness and absolution...””. With this device no such thing will be possible.

I think that the group who were debating for this device made a few valid points. This invention is a step forward for in medical world as it can monitor our heart rate and body temperature, so predicting a heart attack or heart related illnesses can become less difficult. It could also be very handy for people who have suffered memory loss, recording their everyday life could be equivalent to them having a written diary.

So yes this device is exciting for those who work with technology and are eager to develop everything as far as possible, but for people like us it’s simply inhuman.

Cherry, S. (2005). A Life Digitalized in IEEE Spectrum [PDF] Available at: <http://totalrecallbook.com/storage/IEEE%20Spectrum%200511.pdf> [Accessed 25 October 2011].

image found: http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/SenseCam.JPG

RACE IN/FOR CYBERSPACE

After reading an article by Lisa Nakamura based on identity tourism and racial passing, I have one question in mind why did LambdaMOO (online community website) creators did not give their visitors a choice of race?

Nakamura, L.(2000, pp298) states “Yet while the textual conditions of self-definition and self-performance would seem to permit players total freedom, within the boundaries of the written word, to describe themselves in any way they choose, this choice is actually an illusion. This is because the choice not to mention race does in fact constitute a choice – in the absence of racial description, all players are assumed to be white.” Not sure how much I agree with the last part of this statement, because if I were to be Asian I most likely would assume that all other players are also Asian, or I would not even think about race at all because it’s not the most important subject. I don’t believe this is a bad thing at all, not considering race to be important when creating this web page only prevents discrimination and unpleasantness, because there still are people out there who would happily discriminate the others anonymously. Perhaps the founders wanted to create a neutral space where people can be themselves, putting racial differences aside and conversing about mutual interests. 

Nakamura, L. (2000). Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet. [online] Available at: <http://www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/syllabi/readings/nakamura.html> [Accessed 14 Oct 2011].

image found: http://coppock-violi.com/web/Project/web/Report6b.html

Digital Identity: Kodak Culture on Facebook

In this post I will be exploring the way photo album has changed now that we are in the 21st century and the way particular groups of people present themselves in photographs on Facebook. 

Mendelson, A. L. and Papacharissi, Z. (2011, pp. 251-252) ask “If photos are taken for the purpose of being displayed and tagged, does this render the experiences and the social relationships presented more real?” It seems to me that with majority of people on Facebook that is the one and only purpose of taking photos, to show off their social lives and prove it to themselves in a way that they lead an impressive lifestyle. However when I come across such photographs, I don’t find them interesting to look at, because all of them are bad quality, repetitive shots with generic poses and drunken facial expressions. As Mendelson, A. L. and Papacharissi, Z. (2011, pp. 255) point out “We therefore consciously and unconsciously transform ourselves before the camera, portraying a version of ourselves we hope to be (Barthes, 1981; Jacobs,1981; Slater, 1995).” But the selves we imagine to be while drunk are clearly not the kind we see in the photo the next day!

We no longer share our photographs within a small circle of people we know, like family and close friends. It has now become acceptable for almost everyone on the Facebook to view our personal photographs in the comfort of their own home without us knowing. I think people who post wild night out photos sees it as an opportunity of exposure, but what they don’t think about is that there are millions of people posting the same type of material every day. So really they are no different to this category of Facebook users, if anything they are exactly the same. Mendelson, A. L. and Papacharissi, Z. (2011, pp. 255) “Chalfen states that: “Ordered collections of home mode imagery are repeatedly telling the same ‘stories’...” (p. 142).”

Mendelson, A. L. and Papacharissi, Z. (2011) ‘Look at us: Collective narcissism in college student Facebook photo galleries’ in Papacharissi, Z. (Ed.) Identity, community, and culture on social network sites. New York and Oxon : Routledge.

Image found: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MY-TOO-DRUNK-PHOTO-Go-on-put-it-on-here/46205279627?sk=photos

The Rise of Network Culture

Do we shape the technology or does the technology shape us? This is one of the tricky questions that can never be answered correctly, because today we are almost merging with technology into one. There is at least one piece of technological device that improves or helps us with everyday tasks, be it a mobile phone, computer or an iPod. As Varnelis, K. (2077) describes “Individually, such everyday narratives of how technology reshapes our everyday lives are minor. Collectively, they are deeply transformative.” With the help of technology we can be more efficient, for example instead of using paper to write a letter and post it through the mail we write emails that arrive instantly. Dealing with personal banking no longer means taking another trip in the car and wasting petrol, because we can now do it online. I think we shape the technology to suit our needs and the technology shapes us in terms of the way we learn to use it. 

Varnelis, K. (2077) The Rise of Network Culture (conclusion to the book Networked Publics) [online] 27 January. Available at: < http://varnelis.net/the_rise_of_network_culture > [Accessed 13 October 2011].