Hmm last blog for new comm..This semester has gone so fast..it is good in a way!
I would never have thought that Uni would be so tiring and so busy, i feel as though i have done more work at uni this semester than i did all of last year..probs not though!
I have enjoyed this course alot more than some of my other subjects, for example effective writing yuck! I have learnt some really interesting things but i feel as though it wont help me as much in the future..it will when it comes to general discussion with the ol' folk haha which is useful..but nonetheless it has proved to be very interesting.
I have made some good friends in my tutorial and have enjoyed some of the tasks...the Photoshop tute was really interesting..i like playing in photoshop..always something new to learn. The spreadsheet and word doc tute was a bit BLAH only because i do that stuff for work..The search engine tute was interesting aswell..gave me answers to some useless questions like how big is the largest pumpkin haha i dont think i will ever use that..
I think i will be greatful for no more 6am rises to get up n make the effort for this tutorial..i cant function very well at this time of the morning plus the trains are always packed and the busses with school kids euch!
I have my exam tomorrow and i dont know how i will go..i got 13.5 out of 20 for my essay which is a pass..Chris said, "anything over 12 is good" but it doesnt really give me confidence for my test, although it is multi choice. I know i will be going home today to study thats for sure..sooo much content to remember, i am pretty good for the first 7 chapters of the text book, which gives me that first little bit of confidence .. i guess lol
Well i spose im going to leave it here..all in all .. this semester of NCT has been good, i have enjoyed it and i have learnt some interesting and creative things..
ta ta
Emma =)
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Thursday, 17 May 2007
Week 11 - Using Microsoft Excel
This week in tutorials we had to play around in Microsoft excel..which meant fiddling with spreadsheets. I found this tutorial again, increasingly easy...my job requires me to use spreadsheets all the time, i work with spreadsheets more than i work with word documents, so as you could imagine this task was easy as pie. Although the macros thing seemed a little difficult at first because i dont need to use them, personally i find them stupid haha i dont think i would ever need to use them ever! I had used macros in Microsoft word last year in computers which i flew through but with the spreadsheets i found it a bit useless and difficult...
Week 10 - Using Microsoft Word
The tutorial task for this week was to create a letter in microsoft word and mail merge it. Personally i found this task quite simple as i had already done this at high school in year 10 as part of my computing criteria. I flew through the task with no dramas at all, i believe that this software will be useful in my career to come for letters to people. The mail merge tool is seemingly useful if you are mailing several different people at once.
Thursday, 10 May 2007
Essay - Media and Politics
One of the more persistent myths throughout the development of communication technology is that it would transform politics as we know it by bringing power closer to the people. (Mosco 2004, p.98)
This essay will discuss how politics and the media work together in order to inform and persuade the general public into forming an opinion come election time. Through the internet and traditional media, politics use polling, advertising, speeches and merchandising to persuade the reader to vote for the particular party in mention. It will also discuss whether internet politics is practical for Australia, and if it is possible for the future to conform to online politics and media.
Our world is ever growing and ever changing, in the past ten years we have seen the shift from tapes to CD’s, VHS to DVD and CD Walkman’s to iPods. Our technology has risen and the internet world has grown to accommodate our lives and fit into our education, our social interaction and also our work. But is it possible to play with politics online, can we ever see our future in voting to be trusted within the internet.
Politics spend millions to billions of dollars on political advertising, which gets heavier come time of an election. Where ever you turn your head you can hear and see political advertising and marketing, whether it is on the television, in newspapers, magazines and even on the radio, all these forms are traditional types of media. However through the rise in our technology, politics are learning to grow with it as well, so their next target of media becomes the internet. Not only is it effective but it is marginally cheaper. ‘The internet’s cost-efficiency, lack of regulation control, production simplicity, and swift and active interaction with the individual makes it arguably and potentially the most innovative and powerful medium yet for politicians to communicate directly with their constituents.’ (M Hirst & J Harrison, 2007)
‘In Australia, there are presently about 6 million adults accessing the Internet, mostly either from home or at work.’ (M Hirst & J Harrison, 2007) The internet is a handy resource to have, but when dealing with politics it isn’t one hundred per cent guaranteed that each Australian household and family has access to it. We have rural communities, poverty stricken areas and the middle to low income families that have higher priorities and necessities to pay for. Not only does this pose a problem but there are also people out there who are technophobes, who have a general fear of technology or intolerance due to religious values for example the Amish. Another factor for consideration would be a language barrier, not all Australians speak English and there are those who don’t speak or read it well, if the world of politics were to merge with the world of the internet,different versions in different languages would need to be available to the non-english speaking citizens of Australia. ‘Both Al Gore and George W.Bush offered Spanish translations on their websites during the 2000 US presidential election.’ (M Hirst & J Harrison, 2007) But is this what we really need our world to conform to, as it is the youth of today are growing increasingly lazy with so much technology at their feet.
Upon visiting George W.Bush’s website (http://2004.georgewbush.org/index.asp) you are able to realise the full extent of political campaigning through the media. Speeches and merchandise such as bumper stickers are for sale, T.V commercials and photo albums for personal viewing even a forum and a mailing list for newsletter updates on the presidency. This kind of internet advertising may seem effective upon viewing the page but on that note, you must be able to know about the site in order to access it unless you enter his name in a search engine. Hence the effectiveness isn’t targeted as well as traditional media. ‘Nonetheless, the Internet and web-based news services do allow a greater and more chaotic flow of information which makes the task of political management of news and information more arduous and challenges the conventional journalistic treatment of issues.’ (G, Craig, 2004)
The internet does not have the capacity to be as effective as what other traditional forms of media do. Traditional media is that of the television, radio and the newspaper. All three forms display political campaigns and happenings to inform the wider public. The ABC on both the television and radio broadcast debates in parliament to allow the public to watch and form their own opinions before the media are able to get a hold of it and twist it one way or another to make it more interesting to sell. ‘While newspapers are commercial products which carry advertising and a variety of non – journalistic information, they are more so vehicles for news and current affairs than broadcast media.’ (G. Craig, 2004).
Dick Morris is a known political consultant in America, he is known as the man who helped Bill Clinton regain political status amongst the republicans of the US in 1996. Mr Morris’s argument is that the ‘internet will become a revolutionary tool for citizens to control their own destiny’ (M Hirst & J Harrison, 2007) However this does not mean that traditional media will be completely overlooked and possibly non-existent in the near future. ‘The introduction of a new medium does not result in the death of older media: rather, the older media adapt to the new media environment...The introduction of television did not kill radio, and home videos has not destroyed the cinema market’ (G.Craig, 2004)
‘The relationship between politics, the media and public life must encompass a broad territory, from issues of political theory to everyday relations between politicians and journalists.’ (G Craig, 2004) It is evident that our politics and media are on the rise together, the day that the two emerge as one on the internet is in the distant future. Whether it suits our lives now and then is up to you to decide, as for me, the way the world operates with politics and media is at a comfortable medium for now.
References
M. Hirst & J. Harrison(2007)Communication and New Media From Broadcast to Narrowcast
Oxford, New York
Morris, Dick(1999) Vote.com, //vote.com
(accessed 3/05/07)
This essay will discuss how politics and the media work together in order to inform and persuade the general public into forming an opinion come election time. Through the internet and traditional media, politics use polling, advertising, speeches and merchandising to persuade the reader to vote for the particular party in mention. It will also discuss whether internet politics is practical for Australia, and if it is possible for the future to conform to online politics and media.
Our world is ever growing and ever changing, in the past ten years we have seen the shift from tapes to CD’s, VHS to DVD and CD Walkman’s to iPods. Our technology has risen and the internet world has grown to accommodate our lives and fit into our education, our social interaction and also our work. But is it possible to play with politics online, can we ever see our future in voting to be trusted within the internet.
Politics spend millions to billions of dollars on political advertising, which gets heavier come time of an election. Where ever you turn your head you can hear and see political advertising and marketing, whether it is on the television, in newspapers, magazines and even on the radio, all these forms are traditional types of media. However through the rise in our technology, politics are learning to grow with it as well, so their next target of media becomes the internet. Not only is it effective but it is marginally cheaper. ‘The internet’s cost-efficiency, lack of regulation control, production simplicity, and swift and active interaction with the individual makes it arguably and potentially the most innovative and powerful medium yet for politicians to communicate directly with their constituents.’ (M Hirst & J Harrison, 2007)
‘In Australia, there are presently about 6 million adults accessing the Internet, mostly either from home or at work.’ (M Hirst & J Harrison, 2007) The internet is a handy resource to have, but when dealing with politics it isn’t one hundred per cent guaranteed that each Australian household and family has access to it. We have rural communities, poverty stricken areas and the middle to low income families that have higher priorities and necessities to pay for. Not only does this pose a problem but there are also people out there who are technophobes, who have a general fear of technology or intolerance due to religious values for example the Amish. Another factor for consideration would be a language barrier, not all Australians speak English and there are those who don’t speak or read it well, if the world of politics were to merge with the world of the internet,different versions in different languages would need to be available to the non-english speaking citizens of Australia. ‘Both Al Gore and George W.Bush offered Spanish translations on their websites during the 2000 US presidential election.’ (M Hirst & J Harrison, 2007) But is this what we really need our world to conform to, as it is the youth of today are growing increasingly lazy with so much technology at their feet.
Upon visiting George W.Bush’s website (http://2004.georgewbush.org/index.asp) you are able to realise the full extent of political campaigning through the media. Speeches and merchandise such as bumper stickers are for sale, T.V commercials and photo albums for personal viewing even a forum and a mailing list for newsletter updates on the presidency. This kind of internet advertising may seem effective upon viewing the page but on that note, you must be able to know about the site in order to access it unless you enter his name in a search engine. Hence the effectiveness isn’t targeted as well as traditional media. ‘Nonetheless, the Internet and web-based news services do allow a greater and more chaotic flow of information which makes the task of political management of news and information more arduous and challenges the conventional journalistic treatment of issues.’ (G, Craig, 2004)
The internet does not have the capacity to be as effective as what other traditional forms of media do. Traditional media is that of the television, radio and the newspaper. All three forms display political campaigns and happenings to inform the wider public. The ABC on both the television and radio broadcast debates in parliament to allow the public to watch and form their own opinions before the media are able to get a hold of it and twist it one way or another to make it more interesting to sell. ‘While newspapers are commercial products which carry advertising and a variety of non – journalistic information, they are more so vehicles for news and current affairs than broadcast media.’ (G. Craig, 2004).
Dick Morris is a known political consultant in America, he is known as the man who helped Bill Clinton regain political status amongst the republicans of the US in 1996. Mr Morris’s argument is that the ‘internet will become a revolutionary tool for citizens to control their own destiny’ (M Hirst & J Harrison, 2007) However this does not mean that traditional media will be completely overlooked and possibly non-existent in the near future. ‘The introduction of a new medium does not result in the death of older media: rather, the older media adapt to the new media environment...The introduction of television did not kill radio, and home videos has not destroyed the cinema market’ (G.Craig, 2004)
‘The relationship between politics, the media and public life must encompass a broad territory, from issues of political theory to everyday relations between politicians and journalists.’ (G Craig, 2004) It is evident that our politics and media are on the rise together, the day that the two emerge as one on the internet is in the distant future. Whether it suits our lives now and then is up to you to decide, as for me, the way the world operates with politics and media is at a comfortable medium for now.
References
Americas New Page - Dick Morris, www.newsmax.com/pundits/bios/Morris-bio.shtml
(accessed 3/05/07)
B.Axford & R.Huggins(2001) New Media and Politics
Sage Publications, London
Dick Morris, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Morris
(accessed 3/05/07)
G.Craig (2004) The Media, Politics and Public Life
Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest
M. Hirst & J. Harrison(2007)Communication and New Media From Broadcast to Narrowcast
Oxford, New York
Morris, Dick(1999) Vote.com, //vote.com
(accessed 3/05/07)
The Official Re-election site for President George W. Bush, http://2004.georgewbush/index.asp
(accessed 4/05/2007)
Thursday, 3 May 2007
MSN vs Habbo Hotel
When comparing the two chat services you can tell there is some noticable differences.
Habbo Hotel is a 3D chat where you pick a character to represent you in a 3D world, quite similar to a video game. There are different rooms but are decked out accordingly, for example there is a room that is like a night club, there is a pool area which have change rooms and canteens, etc. You click on the places that you want your character to go and who you wish them to talk to..or alternatively you can just stand in one place and talk and hope that someone speaks back.
Msn messenger however is different. First of all it is a private chat, where you only talk to the people on your list, you choose whether or not you wish to accept or decline a person to your list. Usually it is a majority of friends and family, people you know in the real world rather than the land of the internet, where as Habbo hosts a place for people from all walks of life.
It does not have different rooms in which you wish to chat in, it has an individual window for you to converse in and are free to add other people from your list, share files and play games against eachother. Which is something that Habbo has not.
I dont think the 3D aspect really has much to do with the socialising aspect of the chat room, because technically you are still in a chat and still talk to people .. there are just other places to go and seek out when things are getting boring. The differences between the social aspect of Habbo Hotel and MSN Messenger is that in Habbo you are talking to people that are strangers or 'net aquaintances' where as on msn it is on a more personal level.
Habbo Hotel is a 3D chat where you pick a character to represent you in a 3D world, quite similar to a video game. There are different rooms but are decked out accordingly, for example there is a room that is like a night club, there is a pool area which have change rooms and canteens, etc. You click on the places that you want your character to go and who you wish them to talk to..or alternatively you can just stand in one place and talk and hope that someone speaks back.
Msn messenger however is different. First of all it is a private chat, where you only talk to the people on your list, you choose whether or not you wish to accept or decline a person to your list. Usually it is a majority of friends and family, people you know in the real world rather than the land of the internet, where as Habbo hosts a place for people from all walks of life.
It does not have different rooms in which you wish to chat in, it has an individual window for you to converse in and are free to add other people from your list, share files and play games against eachother. Which is something that Habbo has not.
I dont think the 3D aspect really has much to do with the socialising aspect of the chat room, because technically you are still in a chat and still talk to people .. there are just other places to go and seek out when things are getting boring. The differences between the social aspect of Habbo Hotel and MSN Messenger is that in Habbo you are talking to people that are strangers or 'net aquaintances' where as on msn it is on a more personal level.
Thursday, 19 April 2007
Week 6 - Photoshop
This week in tutorials we were just catching up..so i have done week 6's tute .. my theme is news-worthy..i used the cloning tool to make the sky out of an image i found on google of mars and stars..
Thursday, 29 March 2007
This week in tutorials..we were to play around in photoshop. We had to pick a topic out of the selected field and play with a photo that suited that topic..My topic was friends
To the left is a picture of my best friend Sacha..the photo is of us before we got picked up to go out ..I used a variety of effects in the filter menu to get the effects of this photo.
To the left is a picture of my best friend Sacha..the photo is of us before we got picked up to go out ..I used a variety of effects in the filter menu to get the effects of this photo.
This photo i added in a lens flare and some stars..i also made the boys cartoon like..but not too artificial
Thursday, 22 March 2007
Week 4
This week we were given some tasks in tutorial.. this is one i have to do ..a search without using Google to find the answers to the following questions.. lets see how i go haha
1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin?
The largest pumpkin ever grown is 1,502 pounds. It was weighed in on October 7, 2006 at the Rhode Island Weigh-off. (worldsbiggestpumpkin.com)
2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Grant Hackett?
1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin?
The largest pumpkin ever grown is 1,502 pounds. It was weighed in on October 7, 2006 at the Rhode Island Weigh-off. (worldsbiggestpumpkin.com)
2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Grant Hackett?
Try the White Pages..for either him or his new swimming coach Mr Ian Pope.
3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?
The giraffe's tongue can measure up to 22inches in length. (www.bellsouthmspioneers.org/ZooGiraffes)
4. How would you define the word 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean ?
A study on the nature of existence.
Shivers in 1975
6. When was the original 'Hacker's Manifesto' written?
January 8 1986
7. Why do all phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?
It began 30 years ago or more when the use of exchange names as part of the telephone number was still popular in the USA. Dials had letters as well as numbers and the first 3 letters of the exchange name were dialled followed by numbers. Due to the "low fill" of the 555 code, Hollywood was encouraged to quote 555 numbers in their productions to prevent real subscribers being harassed by members of the public trying out the numbers quoted on the screen. Generic and satirical advertisements and commercials often used 555 numbers
8. What is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes?
AU$260 inclusive of all taxes and fees
06:45 Depart Chania (CHQ)Arrive Rhodes (RHO) 10:50 (http://www.expedia.com.au/pub/agent.dll?tovr=-1294687291&ps3u=)
9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?
I'll Never Find Another You by the Seekers (http://www.onmc.iinet.net.au/topspot/1965.htm)
10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?
The Black Assassins (http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm)
Search Engines
What is a search engine?
A program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found. (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/s/search_engine.html) A good example of this Google or Yahoo. It however doesnt neccessary only happen through the internet. Assuming you are using Windows, in the start menu there is a search option where you can search your computer and network similarly.
How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
Search engines rank web pages by determining relevancy though analyzing keyword location, frequency and through other methods.(http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167961)
Who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
Frequency is a factor in how search engines determine relevancy. A search engine will analyze how often keywords appear in relation to other words in a web page. Those with a higher frequency are often deemed more relevant than other web pages.(http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167961)
What are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?
I would say that Google is my favourite search engine..ok a bit cliche but i think it is the most precise and easy to use and read out of the ones i know. For this tutorial tast i used Ask.com and it was extremely slow and was hard to read, and i didnt just take that stance because i was out of my comfort zone..i just didnt enjoy the search engine experience. So yeh..google..woot!
Can you find some current news stories about search engines? (for example, Google has been in the technology news a bit lately).
1. Beating The Unbeatable Google (http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2007/03/27/beating-the-unbeatable-google)
2. Getting Link Love from Google Custom Search Engines (http://searchengineland.com/070326-154515.php)
Thursday, 15 March 2007
Lecture 2
Lecture two held interesting things for discussion..but what interested me the most was the movie. I found all the information about communication and media studies really interesting..and the culture studies also!
But yes the movie had me rather interested...firstly its quite amazing to see how far cinema has evolved..that kind of movie was designed very similarly to the way i made a documentary on the industrial revolution for mod history last year - with photos and voice over, but i must say that the photos and the voice very much suited the topic and era it was set in. At first i didnt know whether it was a true story or not with a war like scene in paris..but as the movie progressed and went into detail about travelling into the past and future, i came to realise quite quickly that it was of course fictional.
I found it rather interesting that the way to travel into the past and future involved injections and medicine based ways, rather than the cliche 'time machine' which is commonly used in future travelling movies that are produced in today. The process seemed to be quite taxing on the mans body - almost torture like, with his body and facial expressions displaying those of pain. Something that really fascinated me about it was the features of the future beings. They looked rather star trekkish, with formations on their forehead and space looking suits, in a way it kind of made me laugh as this perception was more than likely based around the world as we know it to be today (although noticeably it is nothing like it was in the movie)
It was quite creative for the story to go into the past and future to look for resolutions to the problems they were faced with in regards to their wars etc where in most hollywood films they will try and overcome that kind of problem by themselves and find the answers through their own workings rather than trying to place another person or people in the past or future to remedy these kind of situations. During times like those, people would have considered reading up on what actions they would have taken in the past rather than trying to travel back in time to avoid it or travel forward to get a solution.
I dont quite understand the ending though..to me it was like he was going to be killed by those people anyways - but say the future took him, would it have just been a dream like state from the injections until he was killed anyway? And how would it be possible for the future to take hold of someones life and place it into the past - just for him to get killed by the same person anyway. To me the future summonsing him is kind of like the way todays society talks about "the light" when people are passing away and how there are people on the other side waiting for you to join another life - which is a rather christian way to ending the movie(Heaven like) which is pretty much the message i got from that part of the ending. You could also look at it from the point that no matter which decision he would have made someway or another he was going to die in time - whether it be the future world, the past or the present.
But yes the movie had me rather interested...firstly its quite amazing to see how far cinema has evolved..that kind of movie was designed very similarly to the way i made a documentary on the industrial revolution for mod history last year - with photos and voice over, but i must say that the photos and the voice very much suited the topic and era it was set in. At first i didnt know whether it was a true story or not with a war like scene in paris..but as the movie progressed and went into detail about travelling into the past and future, i came to realise quite quickly that it was of course fictional.
I found it rather interesting that the way to travel into the past and future involved injections and medicine based ways, rather than the cliche 'time machine' which is commonly used in future travelling movies that are produced in today. The process seemed to be quite taxing on the mans body - almost torture like, with his body and facial expressions displaying those of pain. Something that really fascinated me about it was the features of the future beings. They looked rather star trekkish, with formations on their forehead and space looking suits, in a way it kind of made me laugh as this perception was more than likely based around the world as we know it to be today (although noticeably it is nothing like it was in the movie)
It was quite creative for the story to go into the past and future to look for resolutions to the problems they were faced with in regards to their wars etc where in most hollywood films they will try and overcome that kind of problem by themselves and find the answers through their own workings rather than trying to place another person or people in the past or future to remedy these kind of situations. During times like those, people would have considered reading up on what actions they would have taken in the past rather than trying to travel back in time to avoid it or travel forward to get a solution.
I dont quite understand the ending though..to me it was like he was going to be killed by those people anyways - but say the future took him, would it have just been a dream like state from the injections until he was killed anyway? And how would it be possible for the future to take hold of someones life and place it into the past - just for him to get killed by the same person anyway. To me the future summonsing him is kind of like the way todays society talks about "the light" when people are passing away and how there are people on the other side waiting for you to join another life - which is a rather christian way to ending the movie(Heaven like) which is pretty much the message i got from that part of the ending. You could also look at it from the point that no matter which decision he would have made someway or another he was going to die in time - whether it be the future world, the past or the present.
Thursday, 8 March 2007
First Week - Lecture
Okay... so it was the first lecture for New Communication Technologies...i really didnt know what to expect..all i knew it was a pre-requesite for my course for the first year. Luckily i wasnt alone in the lecture to start with..Kerry, Ruby and Henrietta joined me who i went to school with last year.
Anywho..once the lecture started it was .. well i thought, extremely interesting..our Lecturer has the most motivating and intriguing speaking voice i have ever heard, which for me is really good because it just captivates me and the need and want to learn pretty much takes over. He ran through the basic stuff of introducing the class tutors and then running through the course outline .. which i must admit scared me for a bit haha He spoke about several things to do with technology..of course, but it was interesting not any of that boring nerdy stuff which was something else i was scared of. He explained to us the difference between communication and technology and the history of telephony and cinema, radio and television..stuff i had learnt in film and tele in yr 12 but it was a good revision if you would call it that :)
I am looking forward to the next lecture on friday as i am interested to see what is going to be discussed and what not .. :)
Anywho..once the lecture started it was .. well i thought, extremely interesting..our Lecturer has the most motivating and intriguing speaking voice i have ever heard, which for me is really good because it just captivates me and the need and want to learn pretty much takes over. He ran through the basic stuff of introducing the class tutors and then running through the course outline .. which i must admit scared me for a bit haha He spoke about several things to do with technology..of course, but it was interesting not any of that boring nerdy stuff which was something else i was scared of. He explained to us the difference between communication and technology and the history of telephony and cinema, radio and television..stuff i had learnt in film and tele in yr 12 but it was a good revision if you would call it that :)
I am looking forward to the next lecture on friday as i am interested to see what is going to be discussed and what not .. :)
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