Tag Archives: #technology

Rushkoff’s Four Commandments

Posted on April 23, 2013 by | Comments Off on Rushkoff’s Four Commandments

@quy_luu

Commandment number 7 is Contact. Digital media has been bringing people together by improving the communication and reducing distances among people. By creating supporting programs, people can actually talk any time that they want to; it is very comfortable and convenient. Plus, people can easily update other status through social network websites (Rushkoff 96).

Commandment number 8 is Abstraction. Base on the Internet access, people can post any information online and they can find the new information as the same way. However, people have to awake of information because they are lack of credibility and reliability. In contrast, it would be difficult for people who do not have the Internet access or the computer because they have spend more time for whatever they look for (Rushkoff 106).

Commandment number 9 is Openness. This commandment is about sharing the sources in the Internet; these sources have been sharing by reliable authors and departments. It is very important for all researchers nowadays and it actually saves lots of time consumption for using computer. The digital media and the Internet are very helpful tools for many people in the digital environment like today (Rushkoff 118).

Commandment number 10 is End Users. Software and Programs are needed to be creating to provide effectively outcome for using the digital media. Besides, there are lots of programs that improve human’s abilities such as listening, speaking and writing. Plus, some of them are enhancing the business’s managements to increase productive process for gaining more profits. Moreover, governments use digital media to control and maintain their entire nation’s status (Rushkoff 134).

 

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A Day without Technology

Posted on April 9, 2013 by | Comments Off on A Day without Technology

quy_luu

“More than half of American households now use the Internet, and two-third own home computers” (Karen and Caroline 201). Before I started this “Non-Tech” day experiment, I thought this was going to be hard because I use to open my laptop every time as my favorite activity.  When I wake up, checking my email on my laptop or my phone is my normal habit; however, for that day, I just went straight to the kitchen to make delicious breakfast for myself. At this point, I had lots of thoughts about what activities was going to be next. Unfortunately, I did not check all the places that I could go on the previous day so I decided to clean the base on my thoughts. For me, it’s kind of bored little bit to go through this experiment because playing game, listening to music, watching video and chatting with my friends seemed to be funnier. However, this experiment showed me how to use limited time for productive activities such as cleaning my room, washing my car, going to the gym and hanging out with my roommates. That way, I think that technology is just tool to make our life more colorful, we do not have to rely too much on it and people definitely can live without it. For this “Non-Tech” day, I believe that people should limit their technology consuming time and get more time to socialize with others. Besides, it helped me to realize how much I use technology every single day and acknowledge how to use my time in beneficial ways.

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It’s All About How You Use the Technology

Posted on April 9, 2013 by | Comments Off on It’s All About How You Use the Technology

On Friday, I decided to go almost technology-free, and there were both negative and positive outcomes. First, the negatives. I usually bring my phone to the gym and listen to music from it while I work out, but I left my phone in a locker on Friday so that I could experience it without the aid of technology. It sucked. Music pumps you up when you’re lifting, and not just on a psychological level, but if you listen to the right type of music it can actually increase your physiological potential as well. Not having that aid put me through a “meh” workout where I was just thinking about how soon until I could stop and go back home. Later that day, I did homework that was done using a book and paper that is due later in the week, instead of doing the homework that required the use of technology and was due on Monday. This incovenience wasn’t too bad, but it did change my plans of how I had to spend the next day. Other than those two things, it didn’t seem much different from a normal day because I recently decided to abjure from extensive social media use. I didn’t want to completely “leave the grid” but I didn’t want to waste as much time on there as I was currently doing. I’ve been fairly successful so far, enabling me to focus more on the priorities that need to get done for school and my career.

 

Now for the positives. Like I said above, I already try to abstain from extensive social media use, so it wasn’t some life-altering change. I did notice a slight increase in productivity during homework because I didn’t have the opportunity to get distracted. There are many times throughout the day where I get online to look something up, and then I see a link that looks interesting, and then another one, and then another one, and soon enough I’m tumbling down the rabbit hole.

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Dies the Fire Survivor

Posted on April 8, 2013 by | Comments Off on Dies the Fire Survivor

When asked to go 24 hours without technology I had visions of total society breakdown, having to learn how to use a sword and being hurled into the dark ages. Since I said I would try, I bravely plowed ahead and christened Saturday “Unplugged” day.

When explaining this task to my husband he looked at me with doubt and said “Huh… well that’s not gonna happen.”

I promptly stated “pppssff… what’s the big deal, I can be off the grid for a day.”

Determined to do be successful despite my naysayer, I packed up my laptop and Nexus and gave my phone to my husband. What little did I know the chaos that would ensue in the next few hours.

At first it wasn’t bad, as I managed to get things done around the house. To the chagrin of my dog he got a bath, haircut and nails clipped. I vanquished the monster of unfolded laundry and took the kids to McDonald’s to play. After my return from the sixth level of hell I was worse than a crack addict needing their next fix.

To my rescue was a friend showing up to hang out and because I couldn’t do anything with technology we decided to check out the new liquor store that opened up in town. An hour and sixty dollars later we were back at my house doing tequila shots. This is where total anarchy broke out.

At midnight my husband gave me my phone in hopes of getting some peace and as some of you may know, I play a game called Ingress so my first order of business was checking out what was happening around town. To my surprise there were 15 portals unclaimed in downtown Vancouver and I was determined to claim them all.

After bribing my sister-in-law to drive me, I ended up running down Main Street with a kid’s hot pink umbrella, wearing my pajamas, in rain boots yelling at the bums that I had no money while I snagged eleven portals at 1 am.

Audra Mann | @WSUVcollegeMom

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Shy Boy: Electronic Literature

Posted on February 19, 2013 by | Comments Off on Shy Boy: Electronic Literature

“Electronic literature, generally considered to exclude print literature that has been digitized, is by contrast “digital born,” a first-generation digital object created on a computer and (usually) meant to be read on a computer. “(Hayles) In other words, it is still print literature but it is modified to become electronic literature by computer programs. With digital technologies, electronic literature thoroughly integrated with printing literature to make new inputs to literature field nowadays.  “Shy Boy” is great example for electronic literature and it is a poem that is created by computer with digital production. “Shy Boy” was very early production for Thom Swiss. Collaborating people underneath poems is his work but he’s not a programmer; he’s a language person. He tried to put a team of people to work on single pieces or group of pieces. For “Shy boy”, he used to capture the ideas, which were inside of his head, then he contacted to one designer and one editor. At this point, they worked as the team as combined all their pieces of work together to make new production. Also, “Shy Boy” had soft music that got along with the video and the way that the words were disappearing and appearing. “Electronic text remains distinct from print in that it literally cannot be accessed until it is performed by properly executed code. The immediacy of code to the text’s performance is fundamental to understanding electronic literature, especially to appreciating its specificity as a literary and technical production” (Hayles). With the print literature, we can’t have this process that make the document is more interesting like electronic literature.

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News and Remediation

Posted on February 5, 2013 by | Comments Off on News and Remediation

When I reviewed the news broadcast 1990 and the news broadcast 2008, I realized there are definitely some noticeable changes. For instant, in the news broadcast 1990, the screen was only for the reporter. After his talk, they could show the view the video or the current event scenes. “Its raw ingredients are images, sound, text, animation and video, which can be brought together in any combination”(Remediation 31). It was pretty straight and solid orientations for the news broadcast 1990; one single thing happened at the time. That way, they combined to become the news broadcast at that time.

In the news broadcast 2008, there could be many reporters at the same screen and they all could talk about one subject. More than that, they could be minimized and moved to the left or right of the screen for showing the related video while the reporters were talking. Besides, the reporter could move anywhere that makes the news more interesting. “These devices, characterized by multiple images, moving images, or sometimes moving observers, seem to have operated under both these logics at the same time, as they incorporated transparent immediacy within hypermediacy”(Remediation 37). The news broadcast 2008 applied these logics very well and efficiently.

“The computer always intervenes and make its presence felt in some way, perhaps because the viewer must click on a button or slide a bar to view a whole picture or perhaps because the digital image appears grainy of with untrue colors. Transparency, however, remains the goal”(Remediation 46). However, the news broadcast 1990 and 2008 still had the same main goal; it was proving and updating accuracy information for the viewers. The technology has changes but the news was remaining the same.

 

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Relationship of humans and Technology

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Relationship of humans and Technology

@KatieGullans

The famous image from the film, The Matrix, and the video clip that experiments with recreating the “raining code” concept from the film relates to humans because humans had to create it. Technological things are made to make things easier for humans as the world becomes more complicated and advanced. For example, in the memex, it shows a person taking notes on one screen, then reference material comes up on the other one. The people in the image with all the coding, show they are the one behind making this technology.

In a way, I think the image relates to showing that it’s not just math and numbers. There are people in the picture too. In “As We May Think,” Vannevar Bush explains that “If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get far in our understanding of the physical world.”(42) Humans have a whole mind to put into new inventions. To invent something, they have to know how the human works to make it actually useful. The game of poker can’t be based entirely on the use of the mathematics of probability. There may be some logical in trying to read what other people might be thinking.

People have different approaches to looking at technology too. The physician, the chemist, and the historian all bring in something different. Information is passed on to newer generations and more things are made. I think the raining code seems like unlimited information already here and more of it to come. But the human mind will think of it, create it, and invent it. Machines are nothing without the human behind them. If humans were to vanish from the earth one day, machines would rot eventually and not be of any use anymore.

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Humans, Technology, & Matrix

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Humans, Technology, & Matrix

The image from the film, the Matrix, and the video clip we have watched relevantly relates to humans based on who invented it and who or what can access it. The movements that happen in the video of there creating of the raining code, the size, shape, and form are all created by humans. Technology was made, by theory, to simplify complications for humans, like ourselves. According to the article, “As We May Think,” Vannevar Bush explains that, “If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get far in our understanding of the physical world,” (Bush 42). This visually represents what humans seek to find in technologies like computers, an infinite ‘fountain’ of knowledge. We may find ourselves thinking about something and wondering why characters on screen move the way they do and so on. If we actually think about it, if humans can do it, the numbers and other figures of computer science can be used to create the characterized figure just like the one in the Matrix. Without humans, inventions wouldn’t be made. The matrix was made by human ability and of course, computers. The numbers used is relevantly used to create movement, and do things that cause humans on screen to look alive. Many of us look at technology differently and we all have our sources to how it relates to humans. The fact being that humans are creating it all makes me realize how much it takes for a human to consume all the computer science information possible to do these things.

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Relying on Technology

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Relying on Technology

@MyDtcAccount – Jonathan Crabtree

 

Back in 1945, Vannevar Bush wrote that “science may implement the ways in which man produces, stores, and consults the record of the race” (Bush 54). This idea is illustrated in the Matrix “Raining Code” scene by the alleged code that is falling from the top of the screen. This seemingly random pattern of letters represents nothing to the untrained eye, but we can assume that what is crossing the screen in front of us is coding that encapsulates all of the audio and visual elements of our day to day lives. While having all this information accessable sounds like a good thing – and it is – he also cautioned against the idea that technology will one day become such an integral part of our society that we will not be able to function without it. I believe that day has arrived.

 

Humans and technology have become inseperable. We can’t live without it, and it can’t exist without us. Even if we really just focused on “new media” as the technology, instead of ALL technology (i.e. the wheel, fire, a hammer, etc.), humans would still struggle to live. Think about it. If computers all of a sudden disappeared, you could no longer read this. Banks (and your money) would be crippled and disappear overnight. Capitalism would grind to a halt. How does water get to your home? Technology. How does your grocery store tell the supplier they need more food? Technology. Obviously there are some people that would be able to survive, but I honestly think a lot of people wouldn’t make it. As a society, we have become too reliant on technology to make things easier for us, that we have no idea how to handle life without them.

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The Relationship between Human, Computer and Technology.

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on The Relationship between Human, Computer and Technology.

@Quy_Luu

The relationship between human and computer has been long time ago and it just keeps growing up as the human’s world is developing. According to Vannevar Bush, technology is always new and very powerful (Vannevar 46); that’s why people have to rely on technology to the approach modern efficient world. With the current computer’s system, its functions are very complicated with significant noticeable features. However, the current computer system is not more than the information technology as the first product came into the world. In 1945, Vannevar Bush created the very first piece of technology; it’s called the Memex. “ A Memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility” (Vannevar 53). There are four main components that operated the Memex system; they were microfilms with drawers, the screens, the keyboard and the stylus. Firstly, microfilms were used to record documents, communications and images; additionally, drawers were the storage for the microfilms as the library of microfilms were accessed through these drawers. Secondly, the screens displayed the projected items, the codes, the trails and allowed the direct entry of notes. Thirdly, the keyboard was used to enter codes, project the heads of trails and to duplicate established trails. Finally, the stylus was used for adding notes to project items (Vannevar 53).  Nowadays, there are so many computers’ systems and devices are created base on the Memex’s system of Vannevar Bush; plus, it increased the technological human demands to higher levels.

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