My learning curve and curiosity goes downwards and then more depressed during the course. I like the beginning 3 weeks of this course much better. From week 4 and 5, big lengthy group discussion started to occupy the whole lecture. It seems like coming to a class became a social event. Nigel's teaching time becomes less and less during the class. And with little preparation, we have to initiate something to discuss during the class.
Week 4 was discussion about online community, if we can do less on sit and talk about the danger and hypothesis of online community and actually see some examples of online communities and how they work, interact; Read what newspaper and theorist have been written about online community; And have slides or PowerPoint presentation on some high profile internet community incidents etc, etc, the class will be more engaging and informative.
During the week 5, we discuss new journalistic style on line. If we can spend some time read through some good blogs and online journalism together and give feedback during the class, it will be much more interesting. It is pretty bad that I don't have internet at home, and it is probably due to my own fault that I didn't organise my time well for learning, so I didn't manage to listen to the online board cast and the radio show and absorb some useful information.
I found it difficult to focus during the class too. Sometime going to the class seems pointless and frustrating for me, but I attend anyway because there was group project that I need to work on. When Week past after week, I can't remember what we learnt in the class.
However, I am glad to learn how to make wiki pages, and doing the group project is interesting and enjoyable. I think it makes more sense for me now why people want to write blogs. And how some blogs are popular and with many replies. I think there are some basic factors that blogs will run well. They have to be in a place where technology and intellectual zones are proliferate and overlap. The writer of the blogs have the access to computer and Internet (which is not that easy), and their writing are interesting, passionate and critical (this is not easy either). Some people are talented in their writing skills, they are fluent and expressive, they have a point to make and they are confident with their voice. That is what i want to learn in the future.
When I start this course I was hoping that I would learn better how to manage my time online and know more interesting websites, blogs. But instead I learnt the idea behind Internet, and some concepts and ideas about how things work, and how people cooperate online through open source movement and wiki. It is good. I feel more positive about Internet and it becomes a place in which things make much more sense. I think I have to work out on my own how to manage my time online and practice my writing, discover good blogs on my own though.
That is the end of my course reflection.
Wednesday 5 December 2007
Good and bad web design
I like highly interactive websites with a lot of graphic, animation and video experimentation. So a good website for me is to have an interesting narrative and fun to play.
the pictures above are screen shot of http://www.requiemforadream.com/, follows the narrative of the film Requiem For A Dream, this website is divided into 3 stories of how people fallen into drug addiction. Stylistically, every element in the website is broken but carefully composed together. The first page is a mocking of those pop-up windows of a gamble website, it direct you to the hallucination of winning money and success. There are also secret passages and links. Sound repetitions. Movement and distortion of graphics creates a strange kind of aesthetic. the design firm of this website receive attention for creating this website. It was a break through of internet art at that point of 2001. see other web design firm www.sofake.com create amazing websites that test the limit of what programing, interactivity and graphic design and do in the confinement of borrower window.
although i think these website fulfill the criteria of good web design and web-based art, i do aware that they are just entertainment and commercial products. If other more informative, educational website, like the example below can be more simple, in their web design, it could be more accessible.
Thus, I think bad website design is there are too much focus points and information on one page. if a page is divided into 3 columns plus there are menus for 10 options for you to chose from on both top and bottom. that kind of website is very confusing for me. thus, i tend to neglect information altogether.
from http://www.radicalmath.org
Wednesday 21 November 2007
work that needs to be done
pressure, alot of things need to catch up. I haven't done the examples of bad-good web design blog entry yet, (I had written about it in my notebook, but no time to put it on blogger because i have no internet access at home, and i need not to tell you that i just moved into a flat so there are issues that concern basic living necessities that need to be sort out) but we already have another assignment of an blog entry about reflection of this course that we need to write. :(
I can't do either of them now, because i haven't done my reading for community
reading list at the moment- a community manifesto by chris wright
-virtual community by Howard Rheingold
-the queeruption website
-stonewall 25: the making of the lesbian and gay community in Britain (stonewall is a lobbying group concerning gay and lesbian right, equality etc...) (and before this book I was reading The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities , but I am not sure if either of these book is useful in describing the kind of diy, self-education activism experienced in the queeruption event)
I have come up some terms and structure that i think is important to explain in my writing in the group project
- my promises is that virtual community is rooted in reality.
- what is non-hierarchy collectives and its decision making process...?
- how does sexuality become as identity and activism in forming communities ?
- technology is seductive, and this link to Internet and virtual community
dani had produced good written work about social networking sites, we had putted them on our group wiki this monday. we also designed the layout for our page. it is basically grey blue very minimal design. dani chose the colours, and i chose those pictures :) one picture is queeruption camp site. they use that on their website to introduce visitors how to get around in the place. the other picture is a virtual city on the Second life.
in response to dani's writing on our group wiki (haha, i have to hyperlink it a thousand times because we are so proud of our work) I agree with her linking social networking website to a post-modernist symbol-game. so i found more materials in relation to her topic, and sent an email to our group members....
when we say that the meaning of "friend" changes online. when it become a little bit more like objects people gathered to show their own popularity.
I think in certain extend it is true. online community maybe make the meaning of "friend" become symbols rather than 'moral' beings. but don't need to be pessimistic about that. i mean, albeit simplistic, mechanism of friends might work in similar way to that of a petition. maybe a friend is equivalent to a vote, of some quality reassurance, on the virtual world.
fly on the wall, the "creative common" is celebrating its 5th birthday by gathering 50,000 friends on face book, myspace, and flickr
the News http://lessig.org/blog/2007/11/50000_friends.html
you might already know that, Lessig is a the American law professor in Stanford University. he initiated the alternative copy right idea online - the creative common. there is more emphasis on freedom of artists, writers to share cooperate work together online. Look at their propaganda
however, the criticism towards creative commons important too. creative common is ambiguous on its political position. it is a extension of American copy right law, -----""the Creative Commons plays as an unconcerned corporate filter. As mentioned in Martin Hardie and "Creative License Fetishism", "When one examines closely just exactly what sort of 'freedom' is ultimately to be had within these licenses, one is quick to discover that they are primarily set up as tools meant to feed directly into corporate co-option." "
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons
especially when you think about all these free tools - flickr, blogs, youtube, that allows people to publish online. all these tool are actually owned by big cooperation such as Microsoft and Rupert Murdoch's media companies. so if the cooperation has the project to utilise these archive of photographs people constructed and make profit out from them. those cooperation are free to do so. in the end of the day, who has the control?
-----------that is almost the end of the email that i send yesterday.
and i have been trying to construct my writing since yesterday. but I'm still in the stage of reading. anyways, carry on working. our goal is that every body can finsih their part of writing this week so we can piece them together next week.
and then that is the deadline.
I can't do either of them now, because i haven't done my reading for community
reading list at the moment- a community manifesto by chris wright
-virtual community by Howard Rheingold
-the queeruption website
-stonewall 25: the making of the lesbian and gay community in Britain (stonewall is a lobbying group concerning gay and lesbian right, equality etc...) (and before this book I was reading The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities , but I am not sure if either of these book is useful in describing the kind of diy, self-education activism experienced in the queeruption event)
I have come up some terms and structure that i think is important to explain in my writing in the group project
- my promises is that virtual community is rooted in reality.
- what is non-hierarchy collectives and its decision making process...?
- how does sexuality become as identity and activism in forming communities ?
- technology is seductive, and this link to Internet and virtual community
dani had produced good written work about social networking sites, we had putted them on our group wiki this monday. we also designed the layout for our page. it is basically grey blue very minimal design. dani chose the colours, and i chose those pictures :) one picture is queeruption camp site. they use that on their website to introduce visitors how to get around in the place. the other picture is a virtual city on the Second life.
in response to dani's writing on our group wiki (haha, i have to hyperlink it a thousand times because we are so proud of our work) I agree with her linking social networking website to a post-modernist symbol-game. so i found more materials in relation to her topic, and sent an email to our group members....
when we say that the meaning of "friend" changes online. when it become a little bit more like objects people gathered to show their own popularity.
I think in certain extend it is true. online community maybe make the meaning of "friend" become symbols rather than 'moral' beings. but don't need to be pessimistic about that. i mean, albeit simplistic, mechanism of friends might work in similar way to that of a petition. maybe a friend is equivalent to a vote, of some quality reassurance, on the virtual world.
fly on the wall, the "creative common" is celebrating its 5th birthday by gathering 50,000 friends on face book, myspace, and flickr
the News http://lessig.org/blog/2007/11/50000_friends.html
you might already know that, Lessig is a the American law professor in Stanford University. he initiated the alternative copy right idea online - the creative common. there is more emphasis on freedom of artists, writers to share cooperate work together online. Look at their propaganda
however, the criticism towards creative commons important too. creative common is ambiguous on its political position. it is a extension of American copy right law, -----""the Creative Commons plays as an unconcerned corporate filter. As mentioned in Martin Hardie and "Creative License Fetishism", "When one examines closely just exactly what sort of 'freedom' is ultimately to be had within these licenses, one is quick to discover that they are primarily set up as tools meant to feed directly into corporate co-option." "
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons
especially when you think about all these free tools - flickr, blogs, youtube, that allows people to publish online. all these tool are actually owned by big cooperation such as Microsoft and Rupert Murdoch's media companies. so if the cooperation has the project to utilise these archive of photographs people constructed and make profit out from them. those cooperation are free to do so. in the end of the day, who has the control?
-----------that is almost the end of the email that i send yesterday.
and i have been trying to construct my writing since yesterday. but I'm still in the stage of reading. anyways, carry on working. our goal is that every body can finsih their part of writing this week so we can piece them together next week.
and then that is the deadline.
Monday 12 November 2007
Group work
Our group project had the time of being trapped in defining “what are the elements of which a community is constituted?” but we decided during last week to move on to work separately to find our own examples of virtual communities and to see how they work out in their own different ways for their own different users.
For me, I am going to be looking at http://www.queeruption.org/
And to see how activism has been playing a vital role in binding people with different approaches, but, similar interests together as communities to work on projects that is potentially mutually beneficial for all participants.
For Daniela, she is going to look at Myspace, and argue that they are not actually a community as how myspace advertise themselves. Instead, it is used as a way of exhibiting, advertising etc.
And Karl is going to look at http://www.freecycle.org/
Freecycle is a good example of how an idea is enabled through Internet. The practice of providing things you don’t need for free to people who might need them has been spreading across more than 70 countries.
How trust between people is build through this website is interesting to look at. Subsequently we might say people’s location in the world in relation to how a community is composed of might be more flexible because of Internet.
This example is particularly useful because we are going to look at how certain terminologies, words changes meaning over the time. Such as our perception to the community, to the world, to the location, to the distances and to our relationships changes through the ways we communicate.
For me, I am going to be looking at http://www.queeruption.org/
And to see how activism has been playing a vital role in binding people with different approaches, but, similar interests together as communities to work on projects that is potentially mutually beneficial for all participants.
For Daniela, she is going to look at Myspace, and argue that they are not actually a community as how myspace advertise themselves. Instead, it is used as a way of exhibiting, advertising etc.
And Karl is going to look at http://www.freecycle.org/
Freecycle is a good example of how an idea is enabled through Internet. The practice of providing things you don’t need for free to people who might need them has been spreading across more than 70 countries.
How trust between people is build through this website is interesting to look at. Subsequently we might say people’s location in the world in relation to how a community is composed of might be more flexible because of Internet.
This example is particularly useful because we are going to look at how certain terminologies, words changes meaning over the time. Such as our perception to the community, to the world, to the location, to the distances and to our relationships changes through the ways we communicate.
Class feedback for last week
The lectures in last two weeks were about definitions of community and blog/academic writing. I have to say that I didn’t get much out from the classes because I didn’t engage with the class discussion. I had all these arguments in my head already. So “What the point of arguing and add up confusions in the class?” I thought.
I was hoping the class can clarify some ambiguities around these terms. But instead I could only find some clarification to Internet writing and community through a festival called Ars Electronica. Within the festival, there was a competition category called Digital Community. They asked some vital questions: how to technology can be used to bridge digital divide, what is the social responsibility of initiatives of digital community in democratisation, equality, education, professionalisation etc.
In terms of the writings on Internet, the competition asked if it was possible for blogging to become new forms of journalism or “citizens journalism”...
I was hoping the class can clarify some ambiguities around these terms. But instead I could only find some clarification to Internet writing and community through a festival called Ars Electronica. Within the festival, there was a competition category called Digital Community. They asked some vital questions: how to technology can be used to bridge digital divide, what is the social responsibility of initiatives of digital community in democratisation, equality, education, professionalisation etc.
In terms of the writings on Internet, the competition asked if it was possible for blogging to become new forms of journalism or “citizens journalism”...
Tuesday 6 November 2007
Sunday 4 November 2007
community - friendships?
A mouse and a frog meet every morning on the riverbank.
They sit in a nook of the ground and talk.
Each morning, the second they see each other,
they open easily, telling stories and dreams and secrets,
empty of any fear or suspicious holding back.
To watch, and listen to those two
is to understand how, as it’s written,
sometimes when two beings come together,
The All becomes visible.
The mouse starts laughing out a story he hasn’t thought of
in five years, and the telling might take five years!
There’s no blocking the speechflow-river-running-
all-carrying momentum that true intimacy is.....
Rumi
Many years ago
--
rather than using commonality to describe the formation of a community, how about using the idea of friendship as the basis of a community? then, what should our group project do? the meaning of friendships; the process of building up a friendship; the problems of a failing friendship?? haha
Haven't build up a good habit of research for this project yet. I believe there are much interesting things we can do with it. but right at the moment, I am puzzled where to start. I had been reading other group member's blog, dani's blog is quit inspiring. -Considering this it would be interesting to see how many heterosexuals as opposed to homosexuals identify themselves as being part of a community in relation to their sexuality.-
want to go to sleep now. such a strange entry with no beginning or end isn't it.
They sit in a nook of the ground and talk.
Each morning, the second they see each other,
they open easily, telling stories and dreams and secrets,
empty of any fear or suspicious holding back.
To watch, and listen to those two
is to understand how, as it’s written,
sometimes when two beings come together,
The All becomes visible.
The mouse starts laughing out a story he hasn’t thought of
in five years, and the telling might take five years!
There’s no blocking the speechflow-river-running-
all-carrying momentum that true intimacy is.....
Rumi
Many years ago
--
rather than using commonality to describe the formation of a community, how about using the idea of friendship as the basis of a community? then, what should our group project do? the meaning of friendships; the process of building up a friendship; the problems of a failing friendship?? haha
Haven't build up a good habit of research for this project yet. I believe there are much interesting things we can do with it. but right at the moment, I am puzzled where to start. I had been reading other group member's blog, dani's blog is quit inspiring. -Considering this it would be interesting to see how many heterosexuals as opposed to homosexuals identify themselves as being part of a community in relation to their sexuality.-
want to go to sleep now. such a strange entry with no beginning or end isn't it.
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