Thursday, May 31, 2007
My opinion of the course...
Yes, all the assessment for this subject is finally over and I am so happy about that! Its not that the course didnt entertain me I'm just happy because it's such a relief. I did enjoy this subject and it taught me many new ideas, history of technologies and processes of new communication technologies. Although some of the lectures were boring they were always full of relevant information. I would recommend this subject to future prospective students. The weekly activities that we had to complete were good because they encouraged us to remember what we learnt in the lectures or to learn new information that weren't covered in the lecture. Overall I enjoyed the subject and thought it was successful at gettin its message across to the students.
Digital Creativity
I found this lecture on digital creativity to be quite interesting. As it showed the different ways in which a person can be creative through digital technology. It gave us ideas on how to use digital creaity on blogs, websites, emails etc. By using digital creativity in different mediums it allows you to draw the attention of onlookers and make them want to visit your site. Overall the lecture on digital creativity was successful.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
More Photoshop Activities
This picture represents celebrity because it shows numerous famous people who have 'celebrity status'. I modified this picture in photoshop by using the filter tool and selected the artisitc menu and then selected to modify the image by using the film grain modification .
This picture displaying numerous newspapers on the floor demonstrates newsworthy. It demonstrates newsworthy becuase newspapers are always filling people in on the latest news and gossip around. I edited it in photoshop using the filter tab and selecting distort then from the distort menu I chose the diffuse glow modification.
I chose this picture of an xbox 360 to demonstrate games because they are one of the most modern gaming devices out on the market today. I modified it in photoshop by selecting the filter tool and then choosing texture and applying the patchwork selection.
Communication can be represented in many ways. In this picture I chose to represent it by using satellite dishes. When modifying it in photoshop i chose the filter tool and selected the stylize tab and then chose the glowing edges modifications. I made the edges thicker and changed the colours around a bit while i was doing this.
This picture represent friendship because it shows three girls close together having a good time. To modiy this picture in photoshop I used the filter tool and then selected the artistic tab and selected the coloured pencil modification.
This picture represents the Australian theme. When I modified this picture in photoshop I used the filter tool and chose the artisitc tab and then selected the plastic wrap feature.
This picture represents popular things in today's society because it shows numerous items that are very popular. I editied this picture in photoshop by selecting the filter tool and then going to sketch and chosing the poster edges modification.
Internet Field Trip
Habbo Hotel
The differences between MSN and Habbo Hotel is that on Habbo Hotel you can design your 3D character to dress and look like you do. You can also go to different locations, buy upgrades for your character and also buy a home for your online character and modify it by buying furniture, appliances etc. It is a great online community for teenagers to use to meet new people as it allows the freedom of travelling to different locations to meet new people. Therefore they can't get bored with their surroundings easily and are always allowed the freedom of chosing the locations that they want to go to and conducting activities that they wish to do. Where as MSN messenger only allows you to have instant chat conversations with your friend, send photos, have voice conversations and have a live web cam experience.
The differences between MSN and Habbo Hotel is that on Habbo Hotel you can design your 3D character to dress and look like you do. You can also go to different locations, buy upgrades for your character and also buy a home for your online character and modify it by buying furniture, appliances etc. It is a great online community for teenagers to use to meet new people as it allows the freedom of travelling to different locations to meet new people. Therefore they can't get bored with their surroundings easily and are always allowed the freedom of chosing the locations that they want to go to and conducting activities that they wish to do. Where as MSN messenger only allows you to have instant chat conversations with your friend, send photos, have voice conversations and have a live web cam experience.
Microsoft Excel
This weeks task required us to complete some tasks using Microsoft Excel. I found this task to be fairly easy although there were a few complications that arose they were easily resolved. I resolved those issues by using the help menu to fix the errors. This task wasn't too simple but it was a little bit confusing at times when i couldn't get the formula to work straight away but once i used the help menu it sorted the problem out quickly and efficiently. This software would be very useful for businesses to use to ensure that they can get their documents done efficiently and effectively. It will also be useful to me when doing general tasks at university or completing documents at home that require me to use Microsoft Excel.
Microsoft Word
This weeks task was to make ourselves more familiar with some of the tools Microsoft Word has to offer. We had to modify a letter and then create a mail merge document. During these tasks i had no problems with any of the different tasks we had to complete. The tasks were fairly easy and the instructions were laid out clearly and effectively so i didn't have any problems with any of it. This software will be useful to me in the future as it will allow me to create mail merge documents faster and easier be they envelopes, letters etc. Microsoft Word is a very effective tool to use for business documents and i would recommend it to anyone.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Advanced Technology
Mobile Phones – The New Computers?
What is a mobile phone? A mobile phone can be defined as a telephone that communicates by radio waves rather than along cables. (Farlex, The Free Dictionary). Mobile phones used to just be used as functionally direct replacements of their wired forebears. But now they have suddenly become platforms for entertainment and commerce and media consumption. This essay on mobile phones will look into their technological advancements since they first burst into the market in the early 1990’s. It will look at where mobile phone technology is today, what the future may hold and where technology can go wrong.
Since mobile phones first burst into our society in the early 1990’s they have rapidly become a necessary item in our culture. The technology that mobile phones utilize in today’s society would have been seen as unpredictable phenomena’s that were impossible when they first emerged into our market. The new solutions that are used in mobile phone technology today are utilized in ways that would have never occurred to their original designers. But it isn’t just the designers that contribute to the ascendency of technology, we too, the general public, the consumers, play a big role in the advancing technology. We have to be in the vanguard of early adopters, we see it as a real “must”. We somehow have the notion that it is a real “must” to be the first to find and use a new solution. We see that as being a value in itself. “We all want to be able to control our coffeemakers with our handset. Why? Because it is possible! (,Lindholm, Christian, Keinonen, Turkka, Kiljander, Harri, 2003, page 1)
Let’s just take a quick look into mobile phones in the past. Mobile phones were originally designed for calling people, storing contact details and occasionally text messaging people. They used to be considered as ‘bricks’ that had much less technology in a far bigger end product. Though in today’s society we expect our mobile phones to be our alarm clocks, personal schedules, download music, download movies, instant chat, email, take photos, capture videos with sound, be mp3 players, watch movies, watch live T.V, have Microsoft office applications, connect to the internet and recently provide us with GPS maps. That’s quite a lot of applications we expect to have in something so small and compact. But our mobile phone technology is that advanced that we are capable of providing all of those applications in something light, compact and easy to use. You would think that we would be happy with the amount of technology offered in mobile phones. But no, we always want more, more applications, more memory, we want more value for money and we want it to be fool-proof. But until we live in a perfect world nothing is fool-proof, not even our beloved mobile phone that we depend on so much.
Some people that depend on mobile phone technology to continue evolving are businesses and the people involved in those businesses. They don’t just depend on it for personal use; their careers also depend on it. This can be a disaster though, should their mobile phone malfunction by means of battery failure, cracked screen, software damage, falling out of reception, getting wet or simply by getting stolen. One such example of mobile phone technology failing is the Blackberry outage in New York that left millions of users without mobile access for hours. So if mobile phones are so technologically advanced why did they fail? Quite simple, every e-mail sent or received on a Blackberry passes through computers owned by RIM, says tech analyst Bill Hughes with researcher In-Stat. (Kessler, Michelle, 2007, ‘BlackBerry outage exposes RIM’s ‘soft underbelly’). The computers at RIM do all of the work, they ensure that every e-mail messages pops up on Blackberry’s instantly, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. But what do RIM’s computers have to do with technological failure? Well the answer is quite simple really if they fail or malfunction in anyway then millions of Blackberry users are left helpless and without their technology that they rely on to such a great extent. Not only does it raise the issue of technological inadequacy and helplessness it also raises issues of security, privacy, and reliability concerns because Blackberry users must trust RIM to keep their e-mail safe.
So relying on mobile phones 24/7 or even technology for that matter is quite silly and there should always be a back-up source or hard-copy of the information needed available. Sure technology is seen as empowering and used as a “career status” that provides us with limitless uses but it still has a weak point and people shouldn’t depend on technology so much. Because in an instant everything they have worked so hard to achieve can be gone in an instant and be gone forever. That’s not to say that mobile phone technology isn’t great though.
On the forefront of mobile phone technological advancements are Microsoft and Macintosh. Which is hardly a surprise are they are such fierce competitors in the computer technology marketplace. Microsoft develops software for mobile devices such as PDA’s, and general mobile phone applications so that they can stay technologically advanced. Macintosh has just released the new iPhone causing them to be Microsoft’s main rival once again. Sure they are rivals but the NOKIA ‘n-series’ and Macintosh’s ‘iPhone’ both utilize the latest mobile phone technology to their fullest potential. Mobile Phone designers have hit alarm clock makers and camera manufacturers and now they have a new target, personal navigation device makers. The NOKIA N95 mobile phones offer the latest in technology as they are bringing GPS services to mobile phones. Though the prices of these mobile phones aren’t accessible by all consumers they are still on the market and are expected to expand rapidly.
So if mobile phone technology is this advanced now then what will the future hold? Mobile phone makers dream of a day when people will be able to use their mobile phones to find restaurants nearby. Google and Yahoo are seen as keen to add mobile navigation services to their mapping offerings, while car navigation firms are adding mobile services to their product. So really mobile phone technology advancements are limitless and only our imagination can tell what the future will hold.
Not only are the possibilities of future technologies unpredictable but, on the level of individual projects, even the possibilities of present technologies may remain mysterious. Technology does not provide bedrock for design. (Lindholm, Christian, Keinonen, Turkka, Kiljander, Harri, 2003, page 7). And today, the world imagined in which our memories would be tangible, machine-enhanced, indestructible records always there, no gaps, no grasping for detail of time and place – is moving ever closer to reality. Digital living, in its complete sense, is here now, encompassing the way we think about our past, act in our present and look to our future. But are we ready for it? Do we really want it? (McMahon, Neil, 2007, ‘Your whole life is going to bits’).
Resources
Lindholm, Christian, Keinonen, Turkka, Kiljander, Harri, 2003, Mobile Usability – How Nokia changed the face of the Mobile Phone, McGraw-Hill, New York
Harper, R., Palen, L, Taylor A, (ed) 2005, The Inside Text – Social Cultural and Design Perspectives on SMS, Springer, The Netherlands
Hirst, Martin, Harrison, John, 2007, Communication and New Media – From Broadcast to Narrowcast, Oxford, Hong Kong
McMahon, Neil, 2007, ‘Your whole life is going to bits’ Sydney Morning Herald 14 April, 2007
2007, ‘Phone makers embrace GPS’ Sydney Morning Herald 3 May, 2007
Kessler, Michelle, 2007, “BlackBerry outage exposes RIM’s ‘soft underbelly’ USA Today 20 April, 2007
Burke, Kelly, 2007 ‘Guy who can cut hours of cyber flab from executive days’ Sydney Morning Herald 13 April, 2007
‘Apple iPhone’ http://www.apple.com/iphone/ (accessed 3 May 2007)
‘Nokia Nseries’ http://www.nseries.com (accessed 4 May 2007)
Farlex, ‘The Free Dictionary’ http://www.thefreedictionary.com (accessed 2 May 2007)
What is a mobile phone? A mobile phone can be defined as a telephone that communicates by radio waves rather than along cables. (Farlex, The Free Dictionary). Mobile phones used to just be used as functionally direct replacements of their wired forebears. But now they have suddenly become platforms for entertainment and commerce and media consumption. This essay on mobile phones will look into their technological advancements since they first burst into the market in the early 1990’s. It will look at where mobile phone technology is today, what the future may hold and where technology can go wrong.
Since mobile phones first burst into our society in the early 1990’s they have rapidly become a necessary item in our culture. The technology that mobile phones utilize in today’s society would have been seen as unpredictable phenomena’s that were impossible when they first emerged into our market. The new solutions that are used in mobile phone technology today are utilized in ways that would have never occurred to their original designers. But it isn’t just the designers that contribute to the ascendency of technology, we too, the general public, the consumers, play a big role in the advancing technology. We have to be in the vanguard of early adopters, we see it as a real “must”. We somehow have the notion that it is a real “must” to be the first to find and use a new solution. We see that as being a value in itself. “We all want to be able to control our coffeemakers with our handset. Why? Because it is possible! (,Lindholm, Christian, Keinonen, Turkka, Kiljander, Harri, 2003, page 1)
Let’s just take a quick look into mobile phones in the past. Mobile phones were originally designed for calling people, storing contact details and occasionally text messaging people. They used to be considered as ‘bricks’ that had much less technology in a far bigger end product. Though in today’s society we expect our mobile phones to be our alarm clocks, personal schedules, download music, download movies, instant chat, email, take photos, capture videos with sound, be mp3 players, watch movies, watch live T.V, have Microsoft office applications, connect to the internet and recently provide us with GPS maps. That’s quite a lot of applications we expect to have in something so small and compact. But our mobile phone technology is that advanced that we are capable of providing all of those applications in something light, compact and easy to use. You would think that we would be happy with the amount of technology offered in mobile phones. But no, we always want more, more applications, more memory, we want more value for money and we want it to be fool-proof. But until we live in a perfect world nothing is fool-proof, not even our beloved mobile phone that we depend on so much.
Some people that depend on mobile phone technology to continue evolving are businesses and the people involved in those businesses. They don’t just depend on it for personal use; their careers also depend on it. This can be a disaster though, should their mobile phone malfunction by means of battery failure, cracked screen, software damage, falling out of reception, getting wet or simply by getting stolen. One such example of mobile phone technology failing is the Blackberry outage in New York that left millions of users without mobile access for hours. So if mobile phones are so technologically advanced why did they fail? Quite simple, every e-mail sent or received on a Blackberry passes through computers owned by RIM, says tech analyst Bill Hughes with researcher In-Stat. (Kessler, Michelle, 2007, ‘BlackBerry outage exposes RIM’s ‘soft underbelly’). The computers at RIM do all of the work, they ensure that every e-mail messages pops up on Blackberry’s instantly, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. But what do RIM’s computers have to do with technological failure? Well the answer is quite simple really if they fail or malfunction in anyway then millions of Blackberry users are left helpless and without their technology that they rely on to such a great extent. Not only does it raise the issue of technological inadequacy and helplessness it also raises issues of security, privacy, and reliability concerns because Blackberry users must trust RIM to keep their e-mail safe.
So relying on mobile phones 24/7 or even technology for that matter is quite silly and there should always be a back-up source or hard-copy of the information needed available. Sure technology is seen as empowering and used as a “career status” that provides us with limitless uses but it still has a weak point and people shouldn’t depend on technology so much. Because in an instant everything they have worked so hard to achieve can be gone in an instant and be gone forever. That’s not to say that mobile phone technology isn’t great though.
On the forefront of mobile phone technological advancements are Microsoft and Macintosh. Which is hardly a surprise are they are such fierce competitors in the computer technology marketplace. Microsoft develops software for mobile devices such as PDA’s, and general mobile phone applications so that they can stay technologically advanced. Macintosh has just released the new iPhone causing them to be Microsoft’s main rival once again. Sure they are rivals but the NOKIA ‘n-series’ and Macintosh’s ‘iPhone’ both utilize the latest mobile phone technology to their fullest potential. Mobile Phone designers have hit alarm clock makers and camera manufacturers and now they have a new target, personal navigation device makers. The NOKIA N95 mobile phones offer the latest in technology as they are bringing GPS services to mobile phones. Though the prices of these mobile phones aren’t accessible by all consumers they are still on the market and are expected to expand rapidly.
So if mobile phone technology is this advanced now then what will the future hold? Mobile phone makers dream of a day when people will be able to use their mobile phones to find restaurants nearby. Google and Yahoo are seen as keen to add mobile navigation services to their mapping offerings, while car navigation firms are adding mobile services to their product. So really mobile phone technology advancements are limitless and only our imagination can tell what the future will hold.
Not only are the possibilities of future technologies unpredictable but, on the level of individual projects, even the possibilities of present technologies may remain mysterious. Technology does not provide bedrock for design. (Lindholm, Christian, Keinonen, Turkka, Kiljander, Harri, 2003, page 7). And today, the world imagined in which our memories would be tangible, machine-enhanced, indestructible records always there, no gaps, no grasping for detail of time and place – is moving ever closer to reality. Digital living, in its complete sense, is here now, encompassing the way we think about our past, act in our present and look to our future. But are we ready for it? Do we really want it? (McMahon, Neil, 2007, ‘Your whole life is going to bits’).
Resources
Lindholm, Christian, Keinonen, Turkka, Kiljander, Harri, 2003, Mobile Usability – How Nokia changed the face of the Mobile Phone, McGraw-Hill, New York
Harper, R., Palen, L, Taylor A, (ed) 2005, The Inside Text – Social Cultural and Design Perspectives on SMS, Springer, The Netherlands
Hirst, Martin, Harrison, John, 2007, Communication and New Media – From Broadcast to Narrowcast, Oxford, Hong Kong
McMahon, Neil, 2007, ‘Your whole life is going to bits’ Sydney Morning Herald 14 April, 2007
2007, ‘Phone makers embrace GPS’ Sydney Morning Herald 3 May, 2007
Kessler, Michelle, 2007, “BlackBerry outage exposes RIM’s ‘soft underbelly’ USA Today 20 April, 2007
Burke, Kelly, 2007 ‘Guy who can cut hours of cyber flab from executive days’ Sydney Morning Herald 13 April, 2007
‘Apple iPhone’ http://www.apple.com/iphone/ (accessed 3 May 2007)
‘Nokia Nseries’ http://www.nseries.com (accessed 4 May 2007)
Farlex, ‘The Free Dictionary’ http://www.thefreedictionary.com (accessed 2 May 2007)
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