Assessment Plans : Week 8

I have created a mind map of ideas and concepts to explore in the essay, on the economic and social world contrasts to the contemporary world on bubbl. Also there is a collection of sources I have found relevant to my research, also stored online on my Delicious page.

Here are a snap shot of my mind maps mid process

From this I am extending the mind map down further to specifically define my essay points and examine the contrasting worlds easily. 

Here is a snapshot of my delicious storage of resources

"The real is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go

   away."
   -Philip K. Dick (2)

Essay Topic : Week 7

CYBERPUNK MOVIE: ExistenZ (1999, Directed by David Cronenberg)

Topic: Compare the economic and social world it conjures with the real world today. How close is this imagined world to our world and are we moving towards the imagined world or away from it?

Week 7

'ExsitenZ' is a 1999 David Cronenberg film we watched briefly in class, on a futuristic gaming system that takes players to an alternate world where they live the game, each action a move in the game. The film held a deep game inside a game, world inside another world theme, done in a dramatically frightening sort of way. The players get confused on whether they are still in the game and confuse a video game with their real world reality. The film takes many twists and even at the last moment your not sure what's real and what isn't.

The issue was reflected in the lecture along with discussion, about the potential of persistent exposure to alternate realities through virtualistic video games, to cause consumers confusion between real and virtual life.

Stephen made a comment relating to playing mario cart and post game getting the feeling you could bounce off the sides of the road while driving. It seems a humorous comment at first but after some thought a daunting possibility that no doubt most have experienced.

With technological advances discussed in the tutorial such as seemingly 360 degree viewing platforms and the inclusion of the body to interact with these games, it seems not such a far out concept to confuse these virtual realities with the real ones.

Week 6 Politics Online

The ABC Vote compass sent me strongly toward my already favored party, the Greens.
Although it wasn't hard to know which answer would send you where with a basic knowledge of each parties policies.

I sign many e-petitions, weekly if not monthly. I'm a long term member if GetUp and have recently been a supporter of the anti CSG petition here and the marriage equality petition to legalize same sex marriage here.

Week 6 Politics & The Internet

Week 6
Politics & The Internet

 There are two types of democracy when the internet is concerned the first of which is cyber politics; which are the politics of the internet that exist online. New media has revolutionized the political game, from voters to fully integrated online campaigns plans. Cyberpolitics are interpersonal, as they are public. Being digitally driven, political action does not always have to be conscious, yet can be an expression of belief expressed or published with no political motive. A note I have found while doing some research is the notion that Cyberpolitics render physical strength irrelevant, so one excuse for removing women is removed. In the world of the internet, any voice can be any human anonymously, so thoughts and anger are expressed more freely with decreased potential for negative backlash, such as in real life situations.

The second type of democracy is eDemocracy. The term is described as  being internets role in real world politics, that exists predominatley off the internet.

Week 5 Churn/Social Media

Churn; the rise of small business upon large established companies..

'Is social networking destroying society?'
-new diseases arising, which humans once had built up an immunity to due to the new 'sterile' landscape and lifestyle most prominent.

'What will web 3.0 look like?'
-web 1.0 primarily special interest writing, only able to be read. Non interactive. Very 'static'
-web 2.0 interaction arises, leaves room for response, interaction, instant communication
the term web 2.0 first used in 1999 by Darci DiNucci
Tim O'Reilly 2003 'what is web 2.0?' later motivates the tech community to consider the internet in new ways
-web 3.0 potential for full customization, in our internet experience, dramatic rise in speed and accessibility

The 2000 dot com crash (controversy)

Social Media

Brief uses of social media platforms:
-Facebook: connect with family/friends/peers from anywhere in the world, news, ads
-Instagram: instant photo sharing, allowing for comments, likes, followers, able to see inside celebrities personal life
-Snapchat: private sharing of video and imagery, limited viewing time
-Soundcloud: music sharing, downloads, artist profiles
-Tumblr: image sharing, downloads, artist profiles
-Twitter: though sharing, instant, able to see into high profile individuals' thoughts
-Blogspot: text sharing, images, reading, writer profiles

Each individuals output defines their online persona, potentially different from their physical real life self. -personality, interests, friend circles, authority.
Often employers research potential employees online profile.

A day of glass, looks at the potential technological and digital advances of glass uses in a futuristic (but not too distant) way.


Folksonomy - The people organising information just by their input.

'Participatory culture'
'Prosumers' producers and consumers of their own culture online

open API: sharing data openly via open application programming interface.

Social media landscapes:
Conversations:playing, publishing, sharing
Interactions:localization, buying, networking

making money from social media is an interesting point to look into

Week 5 Social Media Survey

Social Media Survey

Above is the survey I shared on Facebook and encouraged my friends and peer to complete to assist me in understanding further the role social media plays in their every day lives.


I only had it up for three days until I got ten responses.

My findings were that the most easily accessible sites were used most frequently, aka able to be easily checked on a mobile phone while away from home,

None of my participants admitted to feeling anxious after having not checked their platforms for a set perioud of time, which I was supprised about,

In the free written response, there was a reocurring them around liking being able to silently 'stalk' or 'creep' other users without their knowledge,

The highest percentage of users responded that they are on their most valuable platforms every 30 minutes to an hour (not including sleep time)!,

100% of participants said they were happy with thier social media presence..

My conclusions were that:
Facebook and Instagram were the most popular platforms unsuprising, due to their ease of access and sharing capabilities, the lack of anxiety when normal check ins aren't done may suggest that social media is only valuable because it is available, and is not vital to an individuals exsistence, the 'stalking' abilities of these platforms rather than frighten users, is actually one of their favourite abilities, more frequent check ins (30 mins to an hour) are more prevalent than an hour long chat session or profile update & all users who participated in my survery said they were happy with theit social media presence, signalling my social media friend demographic are seemingly more mindful of their profiles than the stereotypical 'party animal' profile presence discussed (who would seem questionable to potential employers) so frequently.