New Media Lecture - 13th Feb 07

Ok, so the lecture finished half an hour ago so I thought I would post my notes and thoughts on here. I really enjoyed this lecture, i found it useful and very interesting which never usually happens for me! Anyways, here we go:

Steve Jones refers to the notion of communication relying on CMC (Computer Mediated Communication) ''Cyber Society''.

We seem to live in a somewhat neo-centric culture/consumer culture - we like the new/progress and the internet allows us to exchange complex textual and multimedia messages.

The question 'Does the internet take us beyond existing forms of community?' was posed and the answer seems to most definitely be YES. Not only do people live in offline communities in the 'real world', but now people can live in online communities in a virtual world.

Guy mentioned www.well.com - the longest surviving online community and generally the most famous in critical circles. This is a useful site to look at as it is an example of a community going online, and creating a virtual community (extending their existing community). It is an example of a collaberative online forum - where everyone can play a part in sharing things with eachother - Well.com acts almost like a community centre, but online. It requires people to use their real identities. This could be a good thing as it allows for users to see eachother's true identities without worrying about who they are talking to (see forum discussion at http://mchome.lincoln.ac.uk/subsite/week3groupb/week3groupb_toc.htm). Sites like Well.com are more about culture than technology and they have certain values just like an offline community would, and interactions that take place of them are community building to a certain extent. This brings up the idea that maybe online communities are not 100% different from offline ones - things like antisocial behaviour can occur on them as they can occur in offline communities - ie. flaming.

Michelle Wilson

This picture obviously is not the Michelle Wilson I am talking about but I did a google image search and chose to use this one. I then wanted to delete it but didnt know how!!!! Damn thing!!

Wilson sees virtual community as a 'withdraw' from the commitments of the arena of local community. She argues that online communities are abstract and users' interactions with eachother are abstract aswell. Her arguments are about being disconnected from real embedded social environments and that people are better off engaging in real social communities (not virtual ones). However, Wilson's arguments can be looked at sceptically, as it seems as though she has an idealisation of offline communities. What needs to be looked at, it seems, is the features of a community in general ----------> Steve Jones says that real community involves continuity over time, with people investing in it, not just take take take from time to time! Who's to say that this is not possible with ONLINE communities???

It could be argued that online communities are not truly diverse (in comparison to offline communities) and that users do not have to face the challenge of getting on with all kinds of different people.

At this point the lecture changed in subject slightly and the focus was more on social networking sites and blogging:

Guy mentioned Web 2.0.....and at the moment I am not quite sure exactly what this is.

Sites such as Napster allow peer to peer file sharing, creating a sort of community of sharing online.

Blogging and social networking sites

Blogging basically brought social network media into existance and allowed for more of a 'feature-rich' package and developed interactivity. The writers and readers of blogs have a relationship like that of producers and consumers, with blogging sites becoming consuming friendly (users do not have to worry about codes etc).

Social networking sites are very much based around user generated content ------> the site acts as a structure and the user adds the content (this is seen on sites such as Myspace, Facebook etc). Classification systems on these sites are defined by the users (ie. tagged photos on sites like Facebook).

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Guy then mentioned the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Because it is a user generated encyclopedia it is often looked upon as being somewhat unreliable and this raises issues about who can believe that is written there etc. However, I started thinking that this isn't strictly an issue to do with online stuff. This is what I mean: We all sit in lectures listening to the tutor and making notes from them and what they say. But who's to say that they are even telling the truth? They could be lying about everything but because we do not know any better we just accept it as truth. This goes to show that the virtual world (online) and the 'real' world (offline) are not neccessarily so different. Just something to think about....not that I'm accusing the lecturers of being big fat liars or anything. ;-)

My weird way of proving a point...

In case anyone has seen the post in Group A's forum that says ''Group A is inferior to both other groups'' I would like to confess.....it was me who posted it. I wanted to (aside from being somewhat amusing), prove a point about how easy it is to withhold one's identity online. It was almost as if i was just a random voice saying stupid stuff rather than actually being a person! I also noticed that my anonymous post encouraged another anonymous post in reply to it...thats something to think about.

Becky's Blog

I have just been reading Becky's blog: http://rscofield.blogspot.com/2007/02/actually-got-passionate-about-part-of.html and found what she said to be interesting. I agree with what she said about people needing social interaction in the real world, not just through virtual reality. The Second Life site (i assume this is the site she was referring to) in my opinion is a load of rubbish! I could not think of anything less appealing than living a completely virtual life! The example of shopping that Becky gave is a good one, as it highlights how virtual reality and 'online' living affects us. It might be easier to shop online, but it can't entirely be blamed on 'busy' lifestyles.....online food shopping for example is a recent thing (who had heard of it before a few years ago?). I agree with Becky when she mentions laziness and it seems to be the start of a much larger phenomenom....what else will we use the internet for in the future?

Learning Journal Task - Week 3

Choose a web forum and undertake a brief analysis of its dynamics as a communication form.
I have decided to use a forum on digitalspy.co.uk to look at. The forum calls itself a ''digital entertainment community'', as the site itself is based around digital entertainment (ie. TV, music, broadcasting, radio, technology etc). As a communication form it is effective for those who which to select it as a communication form. The site is organised into various categories so users can chose whichever forum they are interested in and the site in general is easy to use, which allows for easier communication. Here is the link for the site: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/

The first thing I noticed when I started viewing users' posts was the names people use when they sign up. The majority of users do not use their real names, but instead opt for some sort of name that is typical of an online forum (ie. musicman06). This raises questions of how safe this kind of communication is and how involved users want to get with this virtual reality. Have a look at my views on withholding identity online at the Group B forum: http://mchome.lincoln.ac.uk/subsite/week3groupb/week3groupb_toc.htm

This is all I have time to do at the moment, so will edit this post and finish it off when I can!!

Grrrrr!!!!!!

I am getting so confused as to what is meant to go on the blog and what is meant to go on the forum!!! I keep reading people's forum posts and have no idea where they are getting the subjects from....ive looked on the weekly study guides and the tasks on Guy's portal site (learning journal stuff) but im still confused! Somebody shoot me now!! Im going to email Guy and try and find out what the hell I need to do!! :-)

Learning Journal Tasks

Find some examples of, and discuss websites that invite the user to have an interactive role.

The most obvious examples of websites that encourage users to have an interactive role are ones such as Myspace and Facebook etc. These are online communities where users can create social networks and post photos, blogs, comments on eachothers pages etc.

What's the nature of that role?

Lister mentions that interactivity is part of new media, and that 'old' media only offers passive consumption (pg.20). Comparing sites such as Myspace to other sites that don't offer interactivity displays this. When a person logs on to Myspace, they are not expected to simply consume passively, but to become involved and to interact with other members, and the site itself. An interactive role instantly offers the user more choice, and the user takes a definite active role, rather than a passive one. Lister argues that the ''audience for new media becomes a 'user' rather than the 'viewer' (pg.21); switching from a passive role to an active one.

What are the interactions on offer?

Myspace has a number of features that allow the user to actively interact with other users first and foremost. Users can comment on eachothers profiles/pictures, send direct messages to eachother and join groups which allows users to post on forums. Users can also interact with non-individuals, such as bands or comedy groups etc. Myspace offers a download service which allows users to download certain music from musicians' pages.

How can you understand them (the interactions) in terms of theories of interactivity?

I AM NOT REALLY SURE HOW TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION YET, I WILL DO SOME MORE RESEARCH ETC AND THEN ATTEMPT TO ANSWER IT LATER.

How, in your opinion/experience, does hypertext shape the experience of using the World Wide Web?

In my experience, hypertext makes navigation on the internet much easier and simple than it would be if none of the information available online was linked in any way. Hypertext allows for organisational format that allows for ''pathways'' (Lister pg.24) to other linked information, and this has made the internet more simple to use, and definitely more efficient in my opinion.

Technological determinism

I wanted to find out about technological determinism so did a bit of online research about it. This is a brief bit of what i found:

• Technological determinism is effectively the opposite of social determinism and is seen (not by everyone however) as the force which drives and shapes society.
• One example of how technology shapes society (i think) could be the internet and how the use of the internet has changed people's social interactivity, in that people can have social exchanges with others without seeing them face to face (to do with disintermediation).

I have taken three definitions of technological determinism from Wikipedia (so obviously don't take these as definite...we all know our tutors look down on Wikipedia!), but i think they outline the general notions of this theory. Here they are:

''Technological determinism has been summarized as 'The belief in technology as a key governing force in society ...' (Merritt Roe Smith), '... the belief that social progress is driven by technological innovation, which in turn follows an "inevitable" course.' (Michael L. Smith), 'The idea that technological development determines social change ...' (Bruce Bimber)''

These are the websites I used to find this stuff out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_determinism

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/tecdet/tdet02.html

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/trinity/determin.html

Lecture - Tuesday 6th Feb 07

I was a tired mess in this lecture so probably didnt understand much of what was said, but here are a few points i picked up on:

• In an online context, people can experiment with SELF (identity experimentation). An example of this is experimentation with sexuality etc. This brings up the question of withholding ones identity and the ethical implications of it (see Week 3 of the seminar forum).
• Relationships that are built up online mean there is no intermediation (as there would be if the relationship was built up face to face in the 'offline' world). People can present a new kind of self in situations like this (again links to the ethical implications of withholding identity).
• Perhaps it could be argued that the online world liberates us, with regard to a person having the ability to present whichever desired 'self' they choose. The internet generally liberates us as consumers/choosers and this applies to the choosing of an identity that we choose to display online.
• Theories of new media are linked with post-modernism.

A couple of useful theorists to look at are Mark Foster and Walter Ong (and as yet im not quite sure what they say/don't say but i plan on finding out).

I also heard the terms 'Era of oralism' and 'Era of written exchange' being uttered, but by that point i had given in to my tiredness and was on the verge of collapse, so i'm not sure what they are all about (again i plan on finding out ASAP).

So that's it, hope y'all enjoyed reading this. Take care now, bye bye then. x