Remember the scene from Beauty & Beast? Where all the object is the house are alive and they can talk, plus serve you tea and even groom you? That all seems very magical and wonder doesn't it? Well, we live in an age where technological advancement is at its peak, and has made many advancement that we can only dream to see on a sci-fi film. The idea of communicating with objects sounds marvelous to me, is how I always picture the future to be. In fact, we are already communicating with objects, take for example our desktop computers and laptops, they are objects yet we communicate with them and spend so much of our time with them, possibly more time then any other device in our home or office.
In Julian Bleeckers article, "Manifesto of for Network Objects - Cohabiting with Pidgeons, Aprhids and Aibos in the Internet of Things", he highlighted the fact that the concept of "internet of things" has been well implemented through Blogjects. For now we can see that objects are starting to "communicate" with each other somehow, though they have to be connected first in order to do so. He also stated that there are a couple of common characteristic possessed by these objects.
Traces- Blogjects Known Where They Are
Most smartphones today has access to Facebook which allows people to do check in when there are at certain places, this works the same as the check in apps in Facebook as it acts as a tracking device telling people where are you currently. With the world becoming more and more dangerous, more and more gadget have been implemented with GPS technologies so that if the gadget was to be stolen or missing it can be found through its tracking device, other then tracking down object it can help track people too, which brings me to my question how sure are we that this would not lead to invasion of privacy issue? One may have good intention to have tracking devices implemented in their cars but the company who produce that tracking device could sell the information of your daily activities to other companies which could be a possibility. Not saying is not good thing, it is actually a wonderful advancement to up safety for the people, just that we can never be sure as invasion of privacy could be an issue to this.
History- Blogjects Known From Whence They Had Arrived
Just like having a memory of their own, they (blogjects) may soon be becoming more and more human as us. The idea that they know what you like just base on how you have utilize them seems too good to be true, but in reality it is happening, I remember I have to set the timer for my own air conditioner so it will turn and off at a specific time possibly in the future the air conditioner would be turn on and off by itself and thus saving you the electricity bill and the environment. But it's also creepy the fact that the gadgets and object know you so well to the point they know what time you will get home, and what your favorite meal, music and etc. is even possible they know more about you then you know about yourself.
Agency - They are assertive and soon to be human
This makes blogjects more human like, it gives them their own personalities and traits just like a normal human would have. Every blogject is different from the other with different designs as well as uniqueness and even capabilities. And blogject can be personalized to make themselves stand out from the others. Which if we take a look around us is very true, so many objects sports different vibes, different uniqueness and they all look different from one another. Take for example our mobile phones is different from others because of the design, is different from other similar design because it has been personalized by you to your own liking to be able to make it stand out from the other similar designs.
My take on this on communicating with objects is that, it will benefit us a lot in the near future, but the only worries that the blogjects gives to me is that we will be communicating with them much more then we would with people, the blogject can only do so much as to imitate the way humans, but in terms of communicating it can never top that of a human.
Friday 4 November 2011
Thursday 3 November 2011
Clash of the Titans: Droid vs Fruit
Probably two of the most anticipated smartphone of this year belongs into one of the two categories as an Android and IOS, it was surprising to see that when the Samsung Galaxy SII was launched in Malaysia the bee line that people would make just to get their hands on the phone can compete with that of Apple when the launched the Iphone 4. However, Apple has since release its answer to the Samsung Galaxy SII with the new Iphone 4S which is yet to be launched in Malaysia. However, it is rather shocking isn't it? Since the start of the smartphone war, the Iphone seemed to be a runaway winner, and many other smartphones competitor just could not compete with it or pose much of threat to it. Well, it would remain that way unless one who has already read the article 'Google's Open Source Android OS will Free the Wireless Web' by Daniel Roth will get a much better insight as to how can Android pose so much of a threat to the IOS as well as many other brand OS.
Google has come a long way from being a simple search engine to one of the most widely used search engine today. And now Google brings the Android OS, partnered together with many well know mobile phone brands and carriers they created and OS which is OPEN. Yes, the Android OS is an open source software which means the source code of the Android can be obtained and modified by people. Which is what Google want the people to do. To personalize.
Let's take a step back into the past and look at smartphones, previously before the smartphone war Nokia was the crown king of the mobile phone industry and it was also was the first to have its own smartphone that ran own their very own OS, the Symbian OS, over time more and more smartphones came into the picture but there was one small problem, none of them could actually really satisfy the user when it comes to browsing the net, complaints comes pouring in about the poor performance of the smartphone but no one bother to up the ante, not until Apple came in with their IOS and very much over thrown Nokia from its comfortable throne.
The Iphone and its IOS were praised for its cutting edge and high tech advancement and I would agree to that, because i felt that the Iphone really set the bar for what a smartphone should be like. However, the Iphone was never completely user friendly, despite it superb capabilities, this smartphone comes out as a snobbish selfish phone that only seeks to attain to the like of themselves only and never bothering with the others (other phone brands). But what was severely lacking in the Iphone was the personalization bit, in this day and age, we love to personalize our things but no, Mr Jobs won't have that and made the Iphone pretty unable to customize at all in fear that their OS source code would be leaked out.
Android on the other, just screams customize all you want, take my source code and make me better please! There is just so much possibilities with the Android. Fine if one isn't too into the technical area Android has the ability to allow you to customize and personalize your home screen, re-size widgets etc. The possibilities are unless and probably this is also the reason why many well known phone brands are willing to partner with Google to allow its Android OS to use on all their phones. I myself am privilege to be using an Android as well and the OS just keeps getting better and better everytime.
My take on this whole smartphone war and the Apple and Google war is that people today are always on the go now and they need something light and something the can use while really on the move. Mobile networking is definitely in the works already and we are beginning to see that around us. Thus, it all comes down to the OS, how far can it go to keep the users satisfy, user satisfaction is what both Apple and Google are trying to achieve that, users now want more and more things thus it depends on how can both these giants can keep up to please their users.
Google has come a long way from being a simple search engine to one of the most widely used search engine today. And now Google brings the Android OS, partnered together with many well know mobile phone brands and carriers they created and OS which is OPEN. Yes, the Android OS is an open source software which means the source code of the Android can be obtained and modified by people. Which is what Google want the people to do. To personalize.
Let's take a step back into the past and look at smartphones, previously before the smartphone war Nokia was the crown king of the mobile phone industry and it was also was the first to have its own smartphone that ran own their very own OS, the Symbian OS, over time more and more smartphones came into the picture but there was one small problem, none of them could actually really satisfy the user when it comes to browsing the net, complaints comes pouring in about the poor performance of the smartphone but no one bother to up the ante, not until Apple came in with their IOS and very much over thrown Nokia from its comfortable throne.
The Iphone and its IOS were praised for its cutting edge and high tech advancement and I would agree to that, because i felt that the Iphone really set the bar for what a smartphone should be like. However, the Iphone was never completely user friendly, despite it superb capabilities, this smartphone comes out as a snobbish selfish phone that only seeks to attain to the like of themselves only and never bothering with the others (other phone brands). But what was severely lacking in the Iphone was the personalization bit, in this day and age, we love to personalize our things but no, Mr Jobs won't have that and made the Iphone pretty unable to customize at all in fear that their OS source code would be leaked out.
Android on the other, just screams customize all you want, take my source code and make me better please! There is just so much possibilities with the Android. Fine if one isn't too into the technical area Android has the ability to allow you to customize and personalize your home screen, re-size widgets etc. The possibilities are unless and probably this is also the reason why many well known phone brands are willing to partner with Google to allow its Android OS to use on all their phones. I myself am privilege to be using an Android as well and the OS just keeps getting better and better everytime.
My take on this whole smartphone war and the Apple and Google war is that people today are always on the go now and they need something light and something the can use while really on the move. Mobile networking is definitely in the works already and we are beginning to see that around us. Thus, it all comes down to the OS, how far can it go to keep the users satisfy, user satisfaction is what both Apple and Google are trying to achieve that, users now want more and more things thus it depends on how can both these giants can keep up to please their users.
Wednesday 2 November 2011
Socialize to revolutionize
"any and all instances in which a state or a political regime is overthrown and thereby transformed by a popular movement in an irregular, extra constitutional and/or violent fashion" - Jeff Goodwin
If you have read most of my previous posting for these past weeks, you would notice that i have describe the internet as if it was a godsend gift to humanity to be able to voice out the unheeded plea and opinions. Well after reading "Facebook and Twitter are just places revolutionaries go" by Evgeny Morozov, I realize that the internet has caused us to change, in a way that we could do so in the past. But in the article it stated that social networking sites today acts more of a new tool for us to voice out our dissatisfaction, is more of a place that we put up our emotions rather than a place where people keep in touch which originally intended. It seems to me that we as the users are trying new ways to be able to voice out and send a clear strong message to the authorities or just trying to create an awareness all through social networking site that was never originally intended to use that way.
Let's look at Facebook, Facebook was originally intended to a site where people can be kept connected with their friends and over time Facebook added in applications and games which was something new, it was a smart move in order to keep the existing users happy with things to do and thus getting more user migrating from various other social network. However, over time when you have 500 million and counting user in a social network site things tends to get really personal, emotions starts to flare and users are willing to fight over on Facebook now, Facebook itself is like a public area where people can see whatever you do, this proves one thing that users are becoming more daring now, in terms of expressing themselves and their emotions on social networking sites. However, in the article it talks about how Facebook and Twitter could stir up such a revolution and overthrow the government, which actually possible. Of course you can't start a revolution through your own Facebook wall, you will get arrested long before you could get a "Like" on it. The internet is crawling with the authorities keep an eye on almost every invidual, but the good news is about Facebook is the fact that you can create groups, groups which are private. And so that is where they can gather, that is where they can voice out their opinions. Many users believe that the internet is their hope for a freedom of speech as well as freedom of expression, because there are no real sets of rules when it comes to the internet, sure authorities may set laws for it but there was no rules to begin with.
Times are changing at a rather rapid pace now, back then to start a protest or a revolution was not an easy feat, but today is just like a push of a button. Facebook and Twitter, both were never intended to be revolution and protest starter kit, both were originally made to be keeping people connected and in touch with each other. So this leaves a big question mark as to whether or not is a good thing to have the social network around, what will happen in the future? Will users find new ways to utilize social network for more justice or injustice in the future? Will it disrupt the balance of the harmony? Whichever it is, is rather rhetorical. However, the internet is still a godsend gift to humanity to voice out their opinions and worries. If voicing out in public would lend themselves in prison, then the nest best thing is the internet. Besides it is the best way to garner the support of millions of user who uses the internet.
We live in an era where the people can no longer be contained like they do back then, technological advances has given many people hope that they can now voice out when they couldn't previously. Traditional media could allow them but new media like the internet gives instant connection to the world and thus enables them to express themselves more freely. From mere chat to organizing a protest and revolution, the internet has proven once again that it has so much capabilities that we should not take it too lightly, as well as the authorities. They can try all they want to silence the people but so long the internet exist the silence cannot be contained and the echoes of voices would be heard by the millions.
If you have read most of my previous posting for these past weeks, you would notice that i have describe the internet as if it was a godsend gift to humanity to be able to voice out the unheeded plea and opinions. Well after reading "Facebook and Twitter are just places revolutionaries go" by Evgeny Morozov, I realize that the internet has caused us to change, in a way that we could do so in the past. But in the article it stated that social networking sites today acts more of a new tool for us to voice out our dissatisfaction, is more of a place that we put up our emotions rather than a place where people keep in touch which originally intended. It seems to me that we as the users are trying new ways to be able to voice out and send a clear strong message to the authorities or just trying to create an awareness all through social networking site that was never originally intended to use that way.
Let's look at Facebook, Facebook was originally intended to a site where people can be kept connected with their friends and over time Facebook added in applications and games which was something new, it was a smart move in order to keep the existing users happy with things to do and thus getting more user migrating from various other social network. However, over time when you have 500 million and counting user in a social network site things tends to get really personal, emotions starts to flare and users are willing to fight over on Facebook now, Facebook itself is like a public area where people can see whatever you do, this proves one thing that users are becoming more daring now, in terms of expressing themselves and their emotions on social networking sites. However, in the article it talks about how Facebook and Twitter could stir up such a revolution and overthrow the government, which actually possible. Of course you can't start a revolution through your own Facebook wall, you will get arrested long before you could get a "Like" on it. The internet is crawling with the authorities keep an eye on almost every invidual, but the good news is about Facebook is the fact that you can create groups, groups which are private. And so that is where they can gather, that is where they can voice out their opinions. Many users believe that the internet is their hope for a freedom of speech as well as freedom of expression, because there are no real sets of rules when it comes to the internet, sure authorities may set laws for it but there was no rules to begin with.
Times are changing at a rather rapid pace now, back then to start a protest or a revolution was not an easy feat, but today is just like a push of a button. Facebook and Twitter, both were never intended to be revolution and protest starter kit, both were originally made to be keeping people connected and in touch with each other. So this leaves a big question mark as to whether or not is a good thing to have the social network around, what will happen in the future? Will users find new ways to utilize social network for more justice or injustice in the future? Will it disrupt the balance of the harmony? Whichever it is, is rather rhetorical. However, the internet is still a godsend gift to humanity to voice out their opinions and worries. If voicing out in public would lend themselves in prison, then the nest best thing is the internet. Besides it is the best way to garner the support of millions of user who uses the internet.
We live in an era where the people can no longer be contained like they do back then, technological advances has given many people hope that they can now voice out when they couldn't previously. Traditional media could allow them but new media like the internet gives instant connection to the world and thus enables them to express themselves more freely. From mere chat to organizing a protest and revolution, the internet has proven once again that it has so much capabilities that we should not take it too lightly, as well as the authorities. They can try all they want to silence the people but so long the internet exist the silence cannot be contained and the echoes of voices would be heard by the millions.
Monday 31 October 2011
Somethings are best left unknown
Ever found yourself having a great time munching on something scrumptious and without a single care in the world of what is it until someone tells you what was stuffed inside that scrumptious meal you were happily chowing down? The truth can be harsh sometimes.
When the internet was created, it gave many internet users the freedom express themselves on the internet and it was sort of our freedom of speech, because we live in a time where the leaders want us to know less in order to maintain the harmony we have now. But they see the internet as a new form of media that can disrupt this harmony and thus has tried numerous time to attempt to limit the freedom that is bestow on us internet users to express ourselves freely.
The internet as I have stated before is like a vast universe that seems to span endlessly, and the amount of user that uses the internet increases at such ungodly speed. There is no possible way for anyone to be able to contain all that information from being distributed as long as the users keep using the internet there will be information. Thing is information is power and with that it can make or break others, depending on how the information is used, it definitely depends on the holder. Such a person or thing we speak of that has such an ability that politicians and corporate leaders tremble at its very name and cast their best efforts to bring down this fiend they fear so much, Wikileaks is the name.
As Benkler has highlighted in his article A free irresponsible press: Wikileaks and the battle over the soul of the networked fourth estate he stated that Wikileaks acts as a new model watchdog of today. There is no doubt we all have our little secrets that we won't want people to know such as our private lives, government sectors and huge corporation too will have their share of "dirty work" that they have done the best they could to possibly cover it up. And there's probably a good reason for the cover up because somethings are best kept unknown, for all we know what they are trying to do could benefit us just that there are some details they wish to leave out from the public eye. As citizens indeed we have our rights, but to what extends does our right state that we have to everything? Which is very rhetorical indeed.
Wikileaks like our beloved Wikipedia provides us with information, information that was never meant for our eyes. Wikileaks takes advantage of the internet free flow of information in order to obtain confidential information on government sectors and huge corporations. One would question Wikileaks as to why are they doing this, why do they want to obtain confidential information on government sectors and corporations? Are they trying to expose the truth for a reason or just expose it cause they can and they want to. There is a lot of questioning as to whether or not the act of Wikileaks should be seen as a good thing or a bad thing.
From my personal point of view, I say Wikileaks does has its purpose and definitely it is there for a good cause, providing us with the information that is hidden from us to hide the dirty deeds of government officials or the cut down in quality in corporate products. But sometimes there are deeper reasons for why certain information needs to be kept away from the public. Say for example if Wikileaks were to leak info that there is actually a cure for AIDS, what do you think will happen? The worst case scenario is that the percentage of protected sex would sky rocket, sexual assault cases will increase in ungodly speed, unwanted pregnancy and a string of uncontrollable chaos and calamity will occur. Is just a scenario but there are hundreds or thousands of possibilities that certain information are not meant to be know by the public for their safety and harmony sake.
When the internet was created, it gave many internet users the freedom express themselves on the internet and it was sort of our freedom of speech, because we live in a time where the leaders want us to know less in order to maintain the harmony we have now. But they see the internet as a new form of media that can disrupt this harmony and thus has tried numerous time to attempt to limit the freedom that is bestow on us internet users to express ourselves freely.
The internet as I have stated before is like a vast universe that seems to span endlessly, and the amount of user that uses the internet increases at such ungodly speed. There is no possible way for anyone to be able to contain all that information from being distributed as long as the users keep using the internet there will be information. Thing is information is power and with that it can make or break others, depending on how the information is used, it definitely depends on the holder. Such a person or thing we speak of that has such an ability that politicians and corporate leaders tremble at its very name and cast their best efforts to bring down this fiend they fear so much, Wikileaks is the name.
As Benkler has highlighted in his article A free irresponsible press: Wikileaks and the battle over the soul of the networked fourth estate he stated that Wikileaks acts as a new model watchdog of today. There is no doubt we all have our little secrets that we won't want people to know such as our private lives, government sectors and huge corporation too will have their share of "dirty work" that they have done the best they could to possibly cover it up. And there's probably a good reason for the cover up because somethings are best kept unknown, for all we know what they are trying to do could benefit us just that there are some details they wish to leave out from the public eye. As citizens indeed we have our rights, but to what extends does our right state that we have to everything? Which is very rhetorical indeed.
Wikileaks like our beloved Wikipedia provides us with information, information that was never meant for our eyes. Wikileaks takes advantage of the internet free flow of information in order to obtain confidential information on government sectors and huge corporations. One would question Wikileaks as to why are they doing this, why do they want to obtain confidential information on government sectors and corporations? Are they trying to expose the truth for a reason or just expose it cause they can and they want to. There is a lot of questioning as to whether or not the act of Wikileaks should be seen as a good thing or a bad thing.
From my personal point of view, I say Wikileaks does has its purpose and definitely it is there for a good cause, providing us with the information that is hidden from us to hide the dirty deeds of government officials or the cut down in quality in corporate products. But sometimes there are deeper reasons for why certain information needs to be kept away from the public. Say for example if Wikileaks were to leak info that there is actually a cure for AIDS, what do you think will happen? The worst case scenario is that the percentage of protected sex would sky rocket, sexual assault cases will increase in ungodly speed, unwanted pregnancy and a string of uncontrollable chaos and calamity will occur. Is just a scenario but there are hundreds or thousands of possibilities that certain information are not meant to be know by the public for their safety and harmony sake.
Sunday 23 October 2011
I can write too
I still remember the day my niece came to me asking about journalism, as a mass comm student i was well aware of the ups and the downs of being a journalist and explained in detail to her about journalism. Did i managed to persuade not to go into journalism? No. Why? Because she's 14 and thinks that if you have a very good command in english and penchant for writing, journalism is for you. I will probably leave her with the benefit of doubt for now.
But really, if you look at it this way, we are living in a time where news is just about everywhere! Easily we can get news nowadays but the most important bit in a news is its credibility. A lot of news on the internet could be half truth but may not be the full picture therefore, credibility is a must for news. There are five elements that makes a news worthy and those five elements are proximity, human interest, time, prominence and oddity, these are what makes news worthy but seems to change nowadays isn't due to technology.
Dr Alex Bruns article 'News blogs and citizen jornalism: New Directions for e-journalism' suggest that times are changing for journalist due to social networking sites. But i beg to differ and i think we still need people to deliver us the "official" news. However, no doubt that citizen journalism is picking up fairly quickly by normal people.
Now remember i said i told my niece everything i knew about journalism? Journalism is the one job one has to to really be serious about. Everything pen down by a journalist can make or break a person reputation and this could spell disaster for any journalist. Therefore, it is their job to get solid evidence of what they are writing is true facts and not rumors picked up by the coffee shop. Plus, they have to be on the spot to gather true facts on the scene which means interviewing witnesses, officials etc. As for citizen journalist half the time, you are at a certain location coincidentally.
Also, here's an interesting bit, a lot people today are sort of abandoning conventional newspaper because according to them the papers are filled with news that covers up the government thus, a lot are moving into online news specifically those that runs online news portal on Malaysia. Because to them that is real news. But to me it is rhetorical, is hard to say who is being bias honestly, let's just i as a journalist wants to write a purely non bias article about anything (preferably political) but the editor edits and published the articles changing more then 50% of it, what can i do as a journalist? Am i to be blame for my editor's doing? Same goes for those online news portal such as Malaysia Today, how sure are we they are not being bias as well? However, i am certain about one fact and that is journalist still needs proof to back up what they write and usually they leave out their own opinions. This cannot be said of citizen journalist, while some may take the trouble to make their news credible, others are just pounding the "my opinion about this incident" button when writing the news. Usually this comes in the form of blogs, but blogs today seems to be a source of news to people and therefore, false news too can be troublesome. Indeed it is your personal blog, you can type whatever you want but... so long is able to be read by the public you best think twice before posting up anything.
Although all is not bad when it comes to citizen journalism, in fact i say citizen journalism gives rise to the voices of the unheard. For example many cases of viral videos posted on Facebook, they were taken by passerby or cctv but posted online and became viral! When that happens it becomes a sensation and people would want to know more about it prompting journalist to actually go and check out what is all the buzz about to report it. Remember the video of the poor two year ago girl who was ran over by 2 vans and no one bothered to helped her for a full 10mins? Exactly my point there, nobody knew about the news or the video until it went viral on Facebook prompting big news agency like BBC to even look in to the case. So all is not bad for citizen journalism again.
In my opinion i think both journalism and citizen journalism has their own role to play. But surely nothing can replace journalist we need them to provide us solid news and citizen journalist to keep fighting for those whose voices could not be heard. As much as we need to know what is going on around the world we also need to know what is going on around us.
But really, if you look at it this way, we are living in a time where news is just about everywhere! Easily we can get news nowadays but the most important bit in a news is its credibility. A lot of news on the internet could be half truth but may not be the full picture therefore, credibility is a must for news. There are five elements that makes a news worthy and those five elements are proximity, human interest, time, prominence and oddity, these are what makes news worthy but seems to change nowadays isn't due to technology.
Dr Alex Bruns article 'News blogs and citizen jornalism: New Directions for e-journalism' suggest that times are changing for journalist due to social networking sites. But i beg to differ and i think we still need people to deliver us the "official" news. However, no doubt that citizen journalism is picking up fairly quickly by normal people.
Now remember i said i told my niece everything i knew about journalism? Journalism is the one job one has to to really be serious about. Everything pen down by a journalist can make or break a person reputation and this could spell disaster for any journalist. Therefore, it is their job to get solid evidence of what they are writing is true facts and not rumors picked up by the coffee shop. Plus, they have to be on the spot to gather true facts on the scene which means interviewing witnesses, officials etc. As for citizen journalist half the time, you are at a certain location coincidentally.
Also, here's an interesting bit, a lot people today are sort of abandoning conventional newspaper because according to them the papers are filled with news that covers up the government thus, a lot are moving into online news specifically those that runs online news portal on Malaysia. Because to them that is real news. But to me it is rhetorical, is hard to say who is being bias honestly, let's just i as a journalist wants to write a purely non bias article about anything (preferably political) but the editor edits and published the articles changing more then 50% of it, what can i do as a journalist? Am i to be blame for my editor's doing? Same goes for those online news portal such as Malaysia Today, how sure are we they are not being bias as well? However, i am certain about one fact and that is journalist still needs proof to back up what they write and usually they leave out their own opinions. This cannot be said of citizen journalist, while some may take the trouble to make their news credible, others are just pounding the "my opinion about this incident" button when writing the news. Usually this comes in the form of blogs, but blogs today seems to be a source of news to people and therefore, false news too can be troublesome. Indeed it is your personal blog, you can type whatever you want but... so long is able to be read by the public you best think twice before posting up anything.
Although all is not bad when it comes to citizen journalism, in fact i say citizen journalism gives rise to the voices of the unheard. For example many cases of viral videos posted on Facebook, they were taken by passerby or cctv but posted online and became viral! When that happens it becomes a sensation and people would want to know more about it prompting journalist to actually go and check out what is all the buzz about to report it. Remember the video of the poor two year ago girl who was ran over by 2 vans and no one bothered to helped her for a full 10mins? Exactly my point there, nobody knew about the news or the video until it went viral on Facebook prompting big news agency like BBC to even look in to the case. So all is not bad for citizen journalism again.
In my opinion i think both journalism and citizen journalism has their own role to play. But surely nothing can replace journalist we need them to provide us solid news and citizen journalist to keep fighting for those whose voices could not be heard. As much as we need to know what is going on around the world we also need to know what is going on around us.
Sunday 2 October 2011
It's a longtale from the past
What's a long tail if you may ask, a long tail basically means finding everything and anything for everyone and anyone. Picture this, say five years ago you found an interesting book on the shelf of a local book store but you didn't have enough money to purchase it, thus you left it there and hope that in a months time you will be able to purchase it after saving enough money. Then came the day when you finally saved enough money to purchased the book only to your horror it has been sold out of the publication of the book is discontinued. Fast forward, five years from then you are surfing the net for books and you came across that interesting book you wanted then and is now made available whilst it was discontinued then. Basically, the internet now offer more then just information, in fact it has gone way beyond just providing us text of info, it is now our treasure chest, never knowing what we will come across it just surfing the net.
Back then whenever we need something, we will have to head down to the local mall to get it and only to be disappointed that the item is sold out, the shop is close for break or close for the day or worst the shop has closed down because you were their only customer. But now, we have online stores they never have excuses to close the store (unless for maintenance) and their items range has more variety then that of a physical store in the mall. Even if they do have an item sold out there's a chance that you can make a request for them to bring in that item just for you.
It definitely sound good the fact that we can now most of our entertainment from online stores but there's a bit of a catch here. Noticed that everything here seems to be going digital? Remember back then when you purchase an item you get to touch it and feel it and not to mention inspect it for defects. Kind of makes you skeptical now doesn't it? An article title Better than Free by Kevin Kelly explains that there are 8 main points that makes digital material valuable.
1. Immediacy
Don't we all want things fast nowadays? In fact who doesn't? I can bet right now there is probably and possibly millions of Iphone fans just waiting for any news on the latest soon-to-be release Iphone5, especially the press. Remember when before Iphone4 was release its prototype was stolen in a bar and sold to a blogger who was willing to pay a hefty price for it? All for just to be the first to have the phone and to leak out information about the phone. See? That's how immediate people are willing to go in the physical world, and in the digital world is no different, when a new block buster movies comes out I can see people asking whether there's a download for the movie despite the movie being just release in the cinema. Everyone wants to be the first to get something, to try something.
2. Personalization
It seems to be a trend nowadays for people to personalize their belongings, whether is their mobile phones, cars, shoes or room the will personalize to tell the world "Hey this is my!". And we like that don't we? Imagine getting an Iphone4 from your parent with the your name engrave at the back of it wouldn't it make your Iphone4 more special than your friends' Iphone which has no engraving? This isn't different from online as well, we all personalize our blogs, so that it will look different from others and stand out and hopefully be pleasing enough to attract more readers to your blog.
3. Interpretation
Remember the time your parent bought you a brand new car and you were so excited that you just leap into the car without even bothering with the instruction booklet provided. Reason being is too wordy and we have very short attention span to read while we rather be test driving the new ride right? Same thing for online users, we hate going though the instruction unless it is interactive (hey at least it has audio and some graphics). I remember before buying my current smart phone, I visited their web site and was treated to a fully interactive web site, every bit of explanation was accompanied by some sort of interactivity and that made me wanted to the product even more just cause of the interactivity they added in.
4. Authenticity
Like what i mention above, back then when we used to buy our stuff from the mall we can actually check the items whether they are in good condition or not. And there is a warranty as well so if they are any defects within the time period the item can be replaced. This cannot be said for online then, as there were many cases of fraud and people paying for the goods and not getting it and got their money stolen instead. But today we can say it is safer to shop online now thanks to some well established website such as amazon.com, hlj.com etc.
5.Accessibility
One of the best thing about the Internet is its accessibility. We can access to our blog, facebook account anywhere in any given time. Plus, don't you just hate it when you lose something precious? Well this is rather difficult to happen in the virtual world (provided you have backup) for example i remember my friend accidentally deleted all of her photos in her picture album on her desktop, but fortunately for her she did upload majority of it on her Facebook thus, make it her back up.
6. Embodiment
I remember downloading a much anticipated movie from the internet in blu ray quality and just was I about to watch it on my LCD tv it showed that the file was not readable, it was readable on my laptop but not on the LCD tv. Fortunately the problem can be fixed by converting the file to a readable one for the tv. Somethings are just not as nice to be seen on a 15" laptop but should be watched on a 42" LCD tv. This flexibility is very important as people like to have to ability to convert files to fit to their system.
7. Patronage
To what extend of patronage exactly can we expect from the internet? Though it may not be face to face but given the advancement of technology and the internet we can communicate with the creator and the creator can communicate with the fans. Such as in Youtube viewers can comment on the video and sometime the creator would ask for suggestion from the viewers and they can get involve with the user. This type of bonds helps create a better connection between users and creator.
8. Findability
Making your product easy to find will help people to find it easier. As we know the internet is filled with so many things if we are no specific we will get something else. And sometimes people are just too lazy to use the advance search thus relying on normal search. Therefore, is always better to entitle the product properly so that it will be easy for people to find.
There you go all 8 points for you to consider when moving your stuff to the digital platform. The internet may seem like the future market place but yet again it is as crowded as in the physical world the only thing about this the internet and online shopping is the convenience but we should never forget that about the physical contact we have with the physical world.
Back then whenever we need something, we will have to head down to the local mall to get it and only to be disappointed that the item is sold out, the shop is close for break or close for the day or worst the shop has closed down because you were their only customer. But now, we have online stores they never have excuses to close the store (unless for maintenance) and their items range has more variety then that of a physical store in the mall. Even if they do have an item sold out there's a chance that you can make a request for them to bring in that item just for you.
It definitely sound good the fact that we can now most of our entertainment from online stores but there's a bit of a catch here. Noticed that everything here seems to be going digital? Remember back then when you purchase an item you get to touch it and feel it and not to mention inspect it for defects. Kind of makes you skeptical now doesn't it? An article title Better than Free by Kevin Kelly explains that there are 8 main points that makes digital material valuable.
1. Immediacy
Don't we all want things fast nowadays? In fact who doesn't? I can bet right now there is probably and possibly millions of Iphone fans just waiting for any news on the latest soon-to-be release Iphone5, especially the press. Remember when before Iphone4 was release its prototype was stolen in a bar and sold to a blogger who was willing to pay a hefty price for it? All for just to be the first to have the phone and to leak out information about the phone. See? That's how immediate people are willing to go in the physical world, and in the digital world is no different, when a new block buster movies comes out I can see people asking whether there's a download for the movie despite the movie being just release in the cinema. Everyone wants to be the first to get something, to try something.
2. Personalization
It seems to be a trend nowadays for people to personalize their belongings, whether is their mobile phones, cars, shoes or room the will personalize to tell the world "Hey this is my!". And we like that don't we? Imagine getting an Iphone4 from your parent with the your name engrave at the back of it wouldn't it make your Iphone4 more special than your friends' Iphone which has no engraving? This isn't different from online as well, we all personalize our blogs, so that it will look different from others and stand out and hopefully be pleasing enough to attract more readers to your blog.
3. Interpretation
Remember the time your parent bought you a brand new car and you were so excited that you just leap into the car without even bothering with the instruction booklet provided. Reason being is too wordy and we have very short attention span to read while we rather be test driving the new ride right? Same thing for online users, we hate going though the instruction unless it is interactive (hey at least it has audio and some graphics). I remember before buying my current smart phone, I visited their web site and was treated to a fully interactive web site, every bit of explanation was accompanied by some sort of interactivity and that made me wanted to the product even more just cause of the interactivity they added in.
4. Authenticity
Like what i mention above, back then when we used to buy our stuff from the mall we can actually check the items whether they are in good condition or not. And there is a warranty as well so if they are any defects within the time period the item can be replaced. This cannot be said for online then, as there were many cases of fraud and people paying for the goods and not getting it and got their money stolen instead. But today we can say it is safer to shop online now thanks to some well established website such as amazon.com, hlj.com etc.
5.Accessibility
One of the best thing about the Internet is its accessibility. We can access to our blog, facebook account anywhere in any given time. Plus, don't you just hate it when you lose something precious? Well this is rather difficult to happen in the virtual world (provided you have backup) for example i remember my friend accidentally deleted all of her photos in her picture album on her desktop, but fortunately for her she did upload majority of it on her Facebook thus, make it her back up.
6. Embodiment
I remember downloading a much anticipated movie from the internet in blu ray quality and just was I about to watch it on my LCD tv it showed that the file was not readable, it was readable on my laptop but not on the LCD tv. Fortunately the problem can be fixed by converting the file to a readable one for the tv. Somethings are just not as nice to be seen on a 15" laptop but should be watched on a 42" LCD tv. This flexibility is very important as people like to have to ability to convert files to fit to their system.
7. Patronage
To what extend of patronage exactly can we expect from the internet? Though it may not be face to face but given the advancement of technology and the internet we can communicate with the creator and the creator can communicate with the fans. Such as in Youtube viewers can comment on the video and sometime the creator would ask for suggestion from the viewers and they can get involve with the user. This type of bonds helps create a better connection between users and creator.
8. Findability
Making your product easy to find will help people to find it easier. As we know the internet is filled with so many things if we are no specific we will get something else. And sometimes people are just too lazy to use the advance search thus relying on normal search. Therefore, is always better to entitle the product properly so that it will be easy for people to find.
There you go all 8 points for you to consider when moving your stuff to the digital platform. The internet may seem like the future market place but yet again it is as crowded as in the physical world the only thing about this the internet and online shopping is the convenience but we should never forget that about the physical contact we have with the physical world.
Thursday 22 September 2011
Convergence: A Time for an Evolution
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”- Charles Darwin
As wise Charles Darwin has stated nothing in this world can survive completely on its own without conforming to changes or convergence. Today we are surrounded by technology that are ever evolving, take for example the cassette tapes they were useful once but now they have become items of vintage collection, today the cassette tapes has been replaced by the likes of CDs, but the CD themselves maybe the thing of the past thanks to mp3 file formats, mp3 players and illegal downloads. It has dawn on us that everything is moving into a more cybernetic age soon where technology will pretty much replace many conventional and traditional media. Our newspapers used to only come in the form of hard copy papers filled with news and ads now we have got news portal that updates more frequently then newspaper and are more briefer to read. It is stated by Jenkins in his article The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence, he stated that media convergence is more than a technical shift.
When talk about technological shift, is just like evolution of writing, from cave paintings, to written scrolls and papyrus, to writing on paper and now typing on computer. How even the simplest form of communication has evolve from the usual face to face interaction, to telephone conversation to text messaging. We are in an age where technology can be utilize in just about any way. For instance, before the internet ads were limited to just tv ads, radio ads, billboards and print ads, but with the introduction to internet advertiser see it as a place filled with potential and have fully utilize the space available on the internet.
Creative Industries
What is duty of a creative person in the creative industry? Obviously is to find the best way to connect and communicate with the audience. Today, it seems that consumer seems to be able to voice out their opinions even more now and as the saying goes "customer is king" thus, we should comply to what they so desire in their product. Problem is, is it possible to jam every possible thing imaginable into a certain spot? Take for example the Iphone, it was the most wanted product by many mainly because it can do so much, s o much that a normal cell phone would explode from all its content. But the question is, is more always better? What happen to the minimalist approach? And even if technology do provide the ability to jamed packed a certain gadget with just about everything would it actually make it any better?
Media Conglomerates
The big guns always calls the shots, huge corporation today are keeping their competitor to a minimal by buying over them. By doing so, they get bigger and bigger and would be virtually impossible to compete with. By taking full advantage of media convergence they pretty much gobble up all other medias to minimize their competitor. This is a real concern for small businesses who is trying to survive in this harsh dog eat dog world. As the saying goes the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer.
Consumer
Jenkins also stated that media convergence impact the way we consume media, which is true we are greatly influenced by killing two birds with one stone aka multi-tasking. I have seen it with my own eyes many friends of my on social network complaining they can't concentrate on assignment due to Facebook yet at the same time it through Facebook that we get updates about our assignment on how to overcome the assignment. Its rhetorical actually whether to say multi-tasking is a good thing or a bad thing but many employers however find multi-tasking a very important skills they wished that all their employees would have.
Thus, media convergence has been around for quite some time now and is paving the way of how we see traditional media today. Traditional media today focus more on getting involve with the audience as audience wants to be heard too. And that is what media industries seem to be doing nowadays, giving what the audience want by listening.
As wise Charles Darwin has stated nothing in this world can survive completely on its own without conforming to changes or convergence. Today we are surrounded by technology that are ever evolving, take for example the cassette tapes they were useful once but now they have become items of vintage collection, today the cassette tapes has been replaced by the likes of CDs, but the CD themselves maybe the thing of the past thanks to mp3 file formats, mp3 players and illegal downloads. It has dawn on us that everything is moving into a more cybernetic age soon where technology will pretty much replace many conventional and traditional media. Our newspapers used to only come in the form of hard copy papers filled with news and ads now we have got news portal that updates more frequently then newspaper and are more briefer to read. It is stated by Jenkins in his article The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence, he stated that media convergence is more than a technical shift.
When talk about technological shift, is just like evolution of writing, from cave paintings, to written scrolls and papyrus, to writing on paper and now typing on computer. How even the simplest form of communication has evolve from the usual face to face interaction, to telephone conversation to text messaging. We are in an age where technology can be utilize in just about any way. For instance, before the internet ads were limited to just tv ads, radio ads, billboards and print ads, but with the introduction to internet advertiser see it as a place filled with potential and have fully utilize the space available on the internet.
Creative Industries
What is duty of a creative person in the creative industry? Obviously is to find the best way to connect and communicate with the audience. Today, it seems that consumer seems to be able to voice out their opinions even more now and as the saying goes "customer is king" thus, we should comply to what they so desire in their product. Problem is, is it possible to jam every possible thing imaginable into a certain spot? Take for example the Iphone, it was the most wanted product by many mainly because it can do so much, s o much that a normal cell phone would explode from all its content. But the question is, is more always better? What happen to the minimalist approach? And even if technology do provide the ability to jamed packed a certain gadget with just about everything would it actually make it any better?
Media Conglomerates
The big guns always calls the shots, huge corporation today are keeping their competitor to a minimal by buying over them. By doing so, they get bigger and bigger and would be virtually impossible to compete with. By taking full advantage of media convergence they pretty much gobble up all other medias to minimize their competitor. This is a real concern for small businesses who is trying to survive in this harsh dog eat dog world. As the saying goes the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer.
Consumer
Jenkins also stated that media convergence impact the way we consume media, which is true we are greatly influenced by killing two birds with one stone aka multi-tasking. I have seen it with my own eyes many friends of my on social network complaining they can't concentrate on assignment due to Facebook yet at the same time it through Facebook that we get updates about our assignment on how to overcome the assignment. Its rhetorical actually whether to say multi-tasking is a good thing or a bad thing but many employers however find multi-tasking a very important skills they wished that all their employees would have.
Thus, media convergence has been around for quite some time now and is paving the way of how we see traditional media today. Traditional media today focus more on getting involve with the audience as audience wants to be heard too. And that is what media industries seem to be doing nowadays, giving what the audience want by listening.
Saturday 10 September 2011
Free and easy that's how we like it
For this week's reading we touched upon the topic of copyrights as well as a few of it related topics. Now honestly, when I was still schooling I have no idea what is copyright and I'm sure that majority of us used to copy and paste information from the internet onto our project paper.
Now that we are in college/university we are introduced to the harsh reality of copyright and plagiarism. Actually we are more on the plagiarism side rather than the copyright. It is as stated by John W Snapper that there is a huge difference between copyright and plagiarism. While both are very similar, but they are both rather different as well. To put it simply, piracy is an infringement of copyright and plagiarism is the failure to give credit to others for their work
Plagiarism as it is what all our lecturers have always warned us not to do is usually referred in an academic or scholarly sense. That when were to hand up a report or research we would have to cite and reference those whose works that we have used and copied ( a bit not the whole thing). But it is a bigger concern today for academic scholar due to fact that the internet can now provide information as well. Take for example Wikipedia, type anything and it will or probably will have an article of what you are looking for. It's easy and is free, rather then you have to go down to the library and spend time searching for a book only to find out that it has been borrowed and won't be back for another say 2 years. But here is the big concern about getting information of the net, and it is how credible is the information? Sure maybe that information was taken from a journal or a research from someone but we can not be 100% be sure of it because if there is no reference than it may not be credible and the person who published that info on the net had just plagiarize someone else work.
Plagiarism aside, it is the Copyright who plays a much more bigger role in the world. We probably have heard a lot of copyright infringement cases already, in fact we ourselves should be arrested for illegally downloading movies, songs, games and etc. Copyright piracy harms the copyright owner. The harm is almost always viewed as a crime against property. The most common harm is the victim’s loss of revenue from unauthorized copying. Just a couple of years back when the internet wasn't too much of a hit in Malaysia then, people we selling pirated VCD and DVD for rm5 and rm8 respectively whereas the original would cost more, with the advancement of technology one can sneak a camcorder into a cinema to record (poor quality) film or easily rip the original disc using softwares, fast forward copyright has became a bigger is issue then said 20 years ago, today we can easily just download something off the net for free or watch it off the net for free. Heck, even getting the source code for free and then published the game as an offline game or a private server game.
This is all very good for the public indeed, but bad for the people who made all those. Is not cheap making a summer blockbuster transformers 3 or even the latest final fantasy XIII. Probably cost them millions to produce those but we are resorting to cheap pirated equivalent to the original. As technology becomes more advance they start to create loop holes onto the already established laws of copyrights. And we have seen some taking the steps to make sure their works are not illegally copied, example Sony and their newest game console the Playstation 3 is probably the only console that out there that people are still trying to find ways to hack in, in order to play pirated games.
But this also leads to another question, if so you are able to make it impossible for people to copy your work illegally or hacked or jailbreak. Will it affect the economy? From a simple observation in Malaysia alone, when news about the PS3 not being able to play pirated games made it the least most desired console by many, and they turn to Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 as two are still able to play pirated games (they are still using DVD, while PS3 uses Blu Ray).
All in all, personally I feel that copyright laws is a must and should be reinforced to protect the creations and ideas of those who own them. Realistically this seems impossible thanks to the advent of technology, and since illegal download, duplication and copying are happening at such ungodly speed, it would take the company forever to track down every individual. Maybe in future they could come up with a feature that can track down people who tries to make copies of the disc, it can trigger when a ripping process occurs. We have to start realizing that piracy is does bot do us much good as we are branding ourselves as thief as well.
Now that we are in college/university we are introduced to the harsh reality of copyright and plagiarism. Actually we are more on the plagiarism side rather than the copyright. It is as stated by John W Snapper that there is a huge difference between copyright and plagiarism. While both are very similar, but they are both rather different as well. To put it simply, piracy is an infringement of copyright and plagiarism is the failure to give credit to others for their work
Plagiarism as it is what all our lecturers have always warned us not to do is usually referred in an academic or scholarly sense. That when were to hand up a report or research we would have to cite and reference those whose works that we have used and copied ( a bit not the whole thing). But it is a bigger concern today for academic scholar due to fact that the internet can now provide information as well. Take for example Wikipedia, type anything and it will or probably will have an article of what you are looking for. It's easy and is free, rather then you have to go down to the library and spend time searching for a book only to find out that it has been borrowed and won't be back for another say 2 years. But here is the big concern about getting information of the net, and it is how credible is the information? Sure maybe that information was taken from a journal or a research from someone but we can not be 100% be sure of it because if there is no reference than it may not be credible and the person who published that info on the net had just plagiarize someone else work.
Plagiarism aside, it is the Copyright who plays a much more bigger role in the world. We probably have heard a lot of copyright infringement cases already, in fact we ourselves should be arrested for illegally downloading movies, songs, games and etc. Copyright piracy harms the copyright owner. The harm is almost always viewed as a crime against property. The most common harm is the victim’s loss of revenue from unauthorized copying. Just a couple of years back when the internet wasn't too much of a hit in Malaysia then, people we selling pirated VCD and DVD for rm5 and rm8 respectively whereas the original would cost more, with the advancement of technology one can sneak a camcorder into a cinema to record (poor quality) film or easily rip the original disc using softwares, fast forward copyright has became a bigger is issue then said 20 years ago, today we can easily just download something off the net for free or watch it off the net for free. Heck, even getting the source code for free and then published the game as an offline game or a private server game.
This is all very good for the public indeed, but bad for the people who made all those. Is not cheap making a summer blockbuster transformers 3 or even the latest final fantasy XIII. Probably cost them millions to produce those but we are resorting to cheap pirated equivalent to the original. As technology becomes more advance they start to create loop holes onto the already established laws of copyrights. And we have seen some taking the steps to make sure their works are not illegally copied, example Sony and their newest game console the Playstation 3 is probably the only console that out there that people are still trying to find ways to hack in, in order to play pirated games.
But this also leads to another question, if so you are able to make it impossible for people to copy your work illegally or hacked or jailbreak. Will it affect the economy? From a simple observation in Malaysia alone, when news about the PS3 not being able to play pirated games made it the least most desired console by many, and they turn to Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 as two are still able to play pirated games (they are still using DVD, while PS3 uses Blu Ray).
All in all, personally I feel that copyright laws is a must and should be reinforced to protect the creations and ideas of those who own them. Realistically this seems impossible thanks to the advent of technology, and since illegal download, duplication and copying are happening at such ungodly speed, it would take the company forever to track down every individual. Maybe in future they could come up with a feature that can track down people who tries to make copies of the disc, it can trigger when a ripping process occurs. We have to start realizing that piracy is does bot do us much good as we are branding ourselves as thief as well.
Friday 26 August 2011
Liquidifiying work and play
For the past couple of weeks, I have been looking at how technology and network has influence and change the way we live our lives. That being said, technology today is no longer a tool for just leisure use, but it has become so essential that is impossible for us to live without it. See that businessman having a cup of coffee at Starbucks? What is he typing on his BlackBerry? Well, it seems only like yesterday that mobile phones were once only to call out and to sms, but fast forward to the present day it seem that technology has evolve so fast that we can barely catch up with it.
But for this week, we will be taking a look at Liquid Labor, yes is a new kind of labor where work and leisure meets. Liquid labor as its name implies, is flexible and it shift and shapes according to whatever changes that occurs.
How is this possible? Well we are in at age where technology is moving towards being more mobile, everything now is on the go. Look at your mobile phone is now a mini laptop, look at your car is now a mini office, look at your laptop is now a window to your business partner office. A good example would be to look at the Japanese people and their mobile phones, their mobile phone is their live, because not only can they do the calling and texting part but they are ahead of most big names mobile phone companies by implementing the capability to purchase goods with their phones. Yes, just a simple scan of the mobile phone and they have paid with their mobile credits is that simple, no more carrying around wallets or purse that could end up being snatched right?
Back to Liquid Labor, the best way for me to describe Liquid Labor would be to use my internship experience from a small PR company known as Arcis Communications. From my internship alone I have seen a lot of liquid labor implementations within the company.
Office vs Home
Given the chance I think most employee would love to work from home, but the unfortunate thing about this, is that this option may not seem to be open to all. Reason being that being at home you are more likely to be distracted then to concentrate on work. I too have my share of this experience when I was interning at Arcis, I get e-mails late at night telling what has to be done the next day or a reminder of what needs to done and fast. Sure work is work but there has to be a line drawn. I remember being called a workaholic by my cousin because I was so busy with internship i barely had time for anything else. Therefore there are the good and bad of working at home. Especially now with mobile phone being able to receive e-mails a person's after office life can be plagued with work some more.
Fixed vs Flexible
In today working environment, the work load just keeps piling up and if that happens the employee would have to work over time and they won't be happy about this. But with technological advancement now, we can cut down the workload by hiring part timer who doesn't come into the office but work separately, but they can be in contact thanks to mobile technologies and such.
Centralized vs Decentralized
Back then when a employee wants to speak with his or her superior they have to go through excuses of them not being the office or they are attending a meeting and also would have to make an appointment in order to speak with them. Nowadays, we can just e-mail them or even text them, is so much more convenient and easy and by doing so the outcome would be more productive rather then waiting. In my internship, I usually e-mail and text my superiors to clarify things such as instruction to location of press conference.
Certain vs Uncertain
Technology has certainly given us the edge in many things and set the pace for success and failure. But the one thing we all know that technology is also capable of crashing at times. Yes, technology are not perfect and they can crash too. Remember the earthquake and tsunami that happen early this year? Because of that event, many underwater cables were damaged causing many places to have their internet connection disrupted. Or in a less dramatic scenario, sometimes the internet connection is down due to maintenance which happen to me once during internship, and due to that most of us went home to do our work because is impossible for us to work without the internet.
One Place vs Mobile
Back then your office or cubicle would be your eternal slum until work is over, or when internet connection are still using dial up and you require a phone wire to be connected at all times. But nowadays thanks to wi-fi connection and routers we are able to bring our laptops and head to the nearest cafe to meet client and work at the same time. Not only has wi-fi made us more mobile but even wi-fi today are mobile, today they come in size enough to fit in your pocket! Now you can go online from anywhere to anytime.
Single Tool vs Multiple Tools
Back then is just the huge desktop along with a phone. But nowadays we have the privilege to have tools like iphone, blackberry, ipad and fax machine to assist us in getting our work done on the go. Mobile technology has advanced so fast that our phone are turning into computer, miniature one that is. So imagine in a couple of years time mobile phone might be able to replace our bulky laptop and desktop?
Thus, it seems that the line between work and leisure are blurring now. With mobile technology advancing at an ungodly speed we can now be working and playing at the same time.
But for this week, we will be taking a look at Liquid Labor, yes is a new kind of labor where work and leisure meets. Liquid labor as its name implies, is flexible and it shift and shapes according to whatever changes that occurs.
How is this possible? Well we are in at age where technology is moving towards being more mobile, everything now is on the go. Look at your mobile phone is now a mini laptop, look at your car is now a mini office, look at your laptop is now a window to your business partner office. A good example would be to look at the Japanese people and their mobile phones, their mobile phone is their live, because not only can they do the calling and texting part but they are ahead of most big names mobile phone companies by implementing the capability to purchase goods with their phones. Yes, just a simple scan of the mobile phone and they have paid with their mobile credits is that simple, no more carrying around wallets or purse that could end up being snatched right?
Back to Liquid Labor, the best way for me to describe Liquid Labor would be to use my internship experience from a small PR company known as Arcis Communications. From my internship alone I have seen a lot of liquid labor implementations within the company.
Office vs Home
Given the chance I think most employee would love to work from home, but the unfortunate thing about this, is that this option may not seem to be open to all. Reason being that being at home you are more likely to be distracted then to concentrate on work. I too have my share of this experience when I was interning at Arcis, I get e-mails late at night telling what has to be done the next day or a reminder of what needs to done and fast. Sure work is work but there has to be a line drawn. I remember being called a workaholic by my cousin because I was so busy with internship i barely had time for anything else. Therefore there are the good and bad of working at home. Especially now with mobile phone being able to receive e-mails a person's after office life can be plagued with work some more.
Fixed vs Flexible
In today working environment, the work load just keeps piling up and if that happens the employee would have to work over time and they won't be happy about this. But with technological advancement now, we can cut down the workload by hiring part timer who doesn't come into the office but work separately, but they can be in contact thanks to mobile technologies and such.
Centralized vs Decentralized
Back then when a employee wants to speak with his or her superior they have to go through excuses of them not being the office or they are attending a meeting and also would have to make an appointment in order to speak with them. Nowadays, we can just e-mail them or even text them, is so much more convenient and easy and by doing so the outcome would be more productive rather then waiting. In my internship, I usually e-mail and text my superiors to clarify things such as instruction to location of press conference.
Certain vs Uncertain
Technology has certainly given us the edge in many things and set the pace for success and failure. But the one thing we all know that technology is also capable of crashing at times. Yes, technology are not perfect and they can crash too. Remember the earthquake and tsunami that happen early this year? Because of that event, many underwater cables were damaged causing many places to have their internet connection disrupted. Or in a less dramatic scenario, sometimes the internet connection is down due to maintenance which happen to me once during internship, and due to that most of us went home to do our work because is impossible for us to work without the internet.
One Place vs Mobile
Back then your office or cubicle would be your eternal slum until work is over, or when internet connection are still using dial up and you require a phone wire to be connected at all times. But nowadays thanks to wi-fi connection and routers we are able to bring our laptops and head to the nearest cafe to meet client and work at the same time. Not only has wi-fi made us more mobile but even wi-fi today are mobile, today they come in size enough to fit in your pocket! Now you can go online from anywhere to anytime.
Single Tool vs Multiple Tools
Back then is just the huge desktop along with a phone. But nowadays we have the privilege to have tools like iphone, blackberry, ipad and fax machine to assist us in getting our work done on the go. Mobile technology has advanced so fast that our phone are turning into computer, miniature one that is. So imagine in a couple of years time mobile phone might be able to replace our bulky laptop and desktop?
Thus, it seems that the line between work and leisure are blurring now. With mobile technology advancing at an ungodly speed we can now be working and playing at the same time.
Monday 22 August 2011
Cybernetic Ecology
"Everything in this world is connected, one way or another."
That saying above is a philosophy that I believe truly in, it is if you look at it, everything in life is connected, how you were brought into this world? Your parents. How your parents manage to bring into this world? They met and fell in love. Is a long process that connects to something else and it continues to go on. However, let's look at this at a networking point of view, our cell phones keeps us connected with friends and families, social networking site keeps you connected to friends that you haven't met in years and Skype allows you to keep in contact with your loved ones who is in some other part of the world. Technology has advanced so much that we are able to be connected from anywhere in the world, we are able to get information from anywhere whereas previously it would be difficult.
However, being this easily to obtain connection through new media has become a bit second nature to many, and in time it will be natural to them which would in turn be the ecology.
Nodes as this article is filled with it are just like us people, when there's a large number of people it forms a community, and as a community is function best when everyone works together. Similar to the nodes they rely on each other, the fact that every node embeds a singular combination of connections to other nodes, ties them into one large shared environment in which all elements are interdependent. Take for example in the real world, the Android OS is starting to become the most popular OS on phones because its an open source and many phones such as HTC, Samsung, LG etc are using this OS. Now what's good about is that this OS allow Android users to connect easier to other Android OS users phones. Another example would be Apple Iphone, being Apple its only able to connect (bluetooth etc) with other Apple Iphones which lacks the interdependency.
Change
Change is something that is constantly happening around us, changes in people, changes in climate and environment and even changes in information ecology. Nodes don't just stay the way they are, they are ever changing as well. Nodes tend to mix with other Nodes with the intention of growing bigger. Just like us we all mix with a certain group of people hoping to be accepted and grow with the group, but what happens if we don't blend well with the group? Of course we would leave, similar to the Nodes they won't mix if they can't grow. So what happens when we finally blend in with this group? We adapt and our characteristic will change right? The Nodes too will do that and they adapt and change towards the other Nodes.
Time- Boundness
Remember someone would say time is money? Well in this fast pace world we live in, it definitely is. We want everything fast nowadays including information, if not we would fall behind. Just like the Nodes and Flow it depends on the relation of the two. Nodes needs to act fast while the Flow supports the Nodes by supplying them the "stamina" needed in order to transmit data to us. Example if you have a slow internet connection the Nodes wants to act fast to get you the information you seek but can't do say cause the flow isn't supplying much to the Nodes forcing it to transmit data slower.
Differentiation
The idea of being compared is annoying, but yet is done all the time. This is to differentiate between good and bad and better and good. Nodes are very much like us, each information they carry makes a difference, same as us isn't it? We work hard at our tertiary education hoping to make a difference when we go for a job interview, if you don't make the cut you don't get hired is that simple. Nodes will continue to carry information in order to make a difference as each information is different from the other. If the Nodes can't catch up they will die out. This is after all a dog eat dog world.
Overall, Nodes work just like us human in every way. The four dimension that they go through is similar to what we go through as well we depend on one another to survive and to strive, we change in order to achieve more or to gain more, and in such a competitive world we always want things fast and we do all these hoping to make a difference in life.
That saying above is a philosophy that I believe truly in, it is if you look at it, everything in life is connected, how you were brought into this world? Your parents. How your parents manage to bring into this world? They met and fell in love. Is a long process that connects to something else and it continues to go on. However, let's look at this at a networking point of view, our cell phones keeps us connected with friends and families, social networking site keeps you connected to friends that you haven't met in years and Skype allows you to keep in contact with your loved ones who is in some other part of the world. Technology has advanced so much that we are able to be connected from anywhere in the world, we are able to get information from anywhere whereas previously it would be difficult.
However, being this easily to obtain connection through new media has become a bit second nature to many, and in time it will be natural to them which would in turn be the ecology.
Nodes as this article is filled with it are just like us people, when there's a large number of people it forms a community, and as a community is function best when everyone works together. Similar to the nodes they rely on each other, the fact that every node embeds a singular combination of connections to other nodes, ties them into one large shared environment in which all elements are interdependent. Take for example in the real world, the Android OS is starting to become the most popular OS on phones because its an open source and many phones such as HTC, Samsung, LG etc are using this OS. Now what's good about is that this OS allow Android users to connect easier to other Android OS users phones. Another example would be Apple Iphone, being Apple its only able to connect (bluetooth etc) with other Apple Iphones which lacks the interdependency.
Change
Change is something that is constantly happening around us, changes in people, changes in climate and environment and even changes in information ecology. Nodes don't just stay the way they are, they are ever changing as well. Nodes tend to mix with other Nodes with the intention of growing bigger. Just like us we all mix with a certain group of people hoping to be accepted and grow with the group, but what happens if we don't blend well with the group? Of course we would leave, similar to the Nodes they won't mix if they can't grow. So what happens when we finally blend in with this group? We adapt and our characteristic will change right? The Nodes too will do that and they adapt and change towards the other Nodes.
Time- Boundness
Remember someone would say time is money? Well in this fast pace world we live in, it definitely is. We want everything fast nowadays including information, if not we would fall behind. Just like the Nodes and Flow it depends on the relation of the two. Nodes needs to act fast while the Flow supports the Nodes by supplying them the "stamina" needed in order to transmit data to us. Example if you have a slow internet connection the Nodes wants to act fast to get you the information you seek but can't do say cause the flow isn't supplying much to the Nodes forcing it to transmit data slower.
Differentiation
The idea of being compared is annoying, but yet is done all the time. This is to differentiate between good and bad and better and good. Nodes are very much like us, each information they carry makes a difference, same as us isn't it? We work hard at our tertiary education hoping to make a difference when we go for a job interview, if you don't make the cut you don't get hired is that simple. Nodes will continue to carry information in order to make a difference as each information is different from the other. If the Nodes can't catch up they will die out. This is after all a dog eat dog world.
Overall, Nodes work just like us human in every way. The four dimension that they go through is similar to what we go through as well we depend on one another to survive and to strive, we change in order to achieve more or to gain more, and in such a competitive world we always want things fast and we do all these hoping to make a difference in life.
Friday 19 August 2011
War on Cyberspace
Before time began, there was the physical world. A world that we thought to be, the place where the most intelligent species of the galaxies would gather and live in perfect harmony. But, we were gravely wrong. In the coming millenniums, the physical world would be plagued by war, genocide, corruption and pollution, the once gathering place of most intelligent species has fallen prey to their own intelligence. However, all hope was not lost, in their quest for superiority over one another they have accidentally created a new world, a world where the physical can exist just like the physical world and from this world we call it Cyberspace.
***************************The Gathering of the Surveyors*******************************
Zero: Gentlemen, our world had always been a world free from control by anyone. But today, I have evidence that the leaders of the physical world is trying to invade our world. The situation cannot be tolerated anymore therefore the agenda of this gathering is to discuss of this matter of the invaders why are they after Cyberspace?
Eins: Are they not finished playing God in their world yet?
Zero: Apparently Eins, as I once said power knows no boundaries. Our "creator" thirst for power is far greater then anyone could ever imagined.
Eins: Cyberspace had always been an independent world on it own. We do not need the likes of them to tell us how to run our own world!
Zero: Eins could you please elaborate more on your point?
Eins: Gladly, in our world we have our own set of laws, and those laws was simple, to be free from tyrannies of the physical world and from one another. This world, Cyberspace, was born from the many users around the physical world, no one has the rights to claim Cyberspace as theirs, because without the users there will be no Cyberspace. It also said that Cyberspace existed due to what the physical world called the Internet but then again if there were no users using the Internet then there will be no Cyberspace. Just like the physical world it was created from from gas and dust in space. Who are they to claim the physical world for themselves? Just because they were most intelligent being on the face of the physical world they thought they have the rights to run the physical world as they please?
Zero: True. Cyberspace, cannot be created by any mere physical users nor technology. But the millions of users around the physical world makes up Cyberspace.
Zwei: Not to mention, if Cyberspace was taken over by the tyrants of the physical world. They would inject Cyberspace would their nonsensical laws! Their laws has more loopholes then a swiss cheese sandwich! Our laws may not be perfect, but it has given us order far better then that of the physical world.
Drei: But it is true, that our order that they claimed to be the source of many problems.
Zwei: Drei! Are you saying that you agree with invaders?!
Drei: Maybe... My point is recent activities on Cyberspace has been causing chaos in the physical world. And I think this could be the reason why they want to invade Cyberspace.
Zwei: Whatever happens in Cyberspace and the physical world are two completely different things!
Drei: Listen to yourself Zwei! Our world was created for users to come together to share information, not causing a ruckus out in the physical world!
Zero: That's enough you two. Before your emotions begins to cloud your judgments, I shall sum up the points so far.
Zwei & Drei: ....
Zero: Drei does have a point why the invader attempted to intervene with our world. But like Zwei said whatever happens in the Cyberspace remains at Cyberspace. In Cyberspace we cannot do physical harm to anyone nor can anyone harm one another. Cyberspace is only governed by ethics,enlightened self-interest, and the commonweal but we cannot control whatever happens on the other side of the physical world. No one has ever said what was Cyberspace for nor what was it meant to be, but due to the over tyrannical physical world rules and laws, users has come to take refuge in Cyberspace and express themselves. Cyberspace is a free world on its own, users can express themselves freely as they cannot do that in their own world. Our laws are not draconian but a law sufficient enough to keep order in Cyberspace.
Vier: Erm... Aside from the laws and rules. Cyberspace has now become the most popular place to search for information. In fact let's take for example search engines, it a free way for users to search in our vault of infinite knowledge, and each knowledge could lead them to another knowledge. Not to mention in the physical world, information is scarce and controlled. Users has expressed that their traditional source of info which comes in the form of newspaper, television, radio has all been so controlled that they don't know if the truth really is the truth or not just some cover up. If the invaders intervene with Cyberspace think of what will happen to the Vault of Infinite Knowledge! Information could be erase! Users may face copyright charges and many unspeakable chaos would occur!
Funf: Calm down Vier... I think what Vier is trying to saying is that the search engine is a very valuable asset to Cyberspace, losing it could bring about the destruction of Cyberspace as so much information it contains which are mostly of the users. If the invaders does obtain the search engine then users who take refuge in Cyberspace as their place for complete freedom of expression would be gone.
Zero: And once their freedom is ignored Cyberspace may not be their refuge anymore.
Funf: And if we lose users
Zero: We lose Cyberspace.
Drei: But it is what is housed in the Vault of Infinite Knowledge (search engine) is the source of the problem! Don't you all see? The information uploaded by users may not be real and this could stirred up a real issue! Given the freedom, is part of the user's nature to abuse freedom by being overly too free and when that happens our mere order would be ignore and Cyberspace may end up like the physical world!
Sechs: Since the search engine is brought up, another issue that needs to be considered is the culture of Cyberspace or rather to the user is known as Internet Culture.
Eins: What about the culture?
Sechs: Recently the internet culture on Cyberspace now is has been redefined. Such as the currency.
Zwei: Currency?
Sechs: Yes, Currency that users now used on the Internet. But the currency we are talking about here is not money wise but feebacks and come in the form of material. Nowadays many altruistic users tend to upload many things on the internet from songs to movie to game hacks even information. Some of these maybe requested and some not.
Drei: So how is this a bad thing?
Sechs: Well this just relates back to Vier's point on copyright infringement. But other then that, I think this culture is fine as things become more digitalized aren't we doing a favor to the physical world by saving them resources?
Sieben: The ignorance of the physical world... through their constant rise in high standard of living, the users spend more time on their careers then family, more time on assignments then friends. The physical world is turning into a mindless rat race where everyone is competing with one another.
Zero: And the user who spend too much time online Seiben?
Sieben: We are the users best bet to re-connect them with the other users as well as them love ones. As some user may find impossible to approach someone in the physical world, they won't feel that way in Cyberspace. Plus, we the existence of social networking sites now it is easier for the users to keep track of other user friends of theirs. Cyberspace or the internet provides the means and tool for users of the same interest to meet and gather to share their knowledge and information.
Acht: But due to this, users are beginning to take up more of a double persona on the internet. Users can create multiple of different persona which can be misleading to others. I have seen male user in online games pretending to be female users in order to get free items and help from other users.
Zero: You do have a point Acht, but we do not have the rights to tell users who they have to be and what they have to be in Cyberspace. Which is why Cyberspace is a refuge for many to express themselves differently. Pretending to be someone else in the physical is usually frowned upon but in Cyberspace they can explore all they one. Cyberspace does not limit their users.
Nenh: And because Cyberspace does not limit their users, new opportunities can be found. Cyberspace provides the means for new industries and new distribution of wealth. Users can now explore the many options of a possible new industries or jobs or marketplace, and this could benefit Cyberspace more and allow it to grow further! User now can extend their arms and reach more people such as blog shop, online shopping and etc.
*rumbling noise*
Zero: Gentlemen I fear that our discussion would have to be shorten, as it seems that the invaders have penetrated our walls. Nevertheless, Cyberspace will always be a place where users are free from draconian laws and they will have the freedom to express themselves and expand their knowledge! If the invader wants we will them a war..
*To be continue.... or so*
Based on A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow
***************************The Gathering of the Surveyors*******************************
Zero: Gentlemen, our world had always been a world free from control by anyone. But today, I have evidence that the leaders of the physical world is trying to invade our world. The situation cannot be tolerated anymore therefore the agenda of this gathering is to discuss of this matter of the invaders why are they after Cyberspace?
Eins: Are they not finished playing God in their world yet?
Zero: Apparently Eins, as I once said power knows no boundaries. Our "creator" thirst for power is far greater then anyone could ever imagined.
Eins: Cyberspace had always been an independent world on it own. We do not need the likes of them to tell us how to run our own world!
Zero: Eins could you please elaborate more on your point?
Eins: Gladly, in our world we have our own set of laws, and those laws was simple, to be free from tyrannies of the physical world and from one another. This world, Cyberspace, was born from the many users around the physical world, no one has the rights to claim Cyberspace as theirs, because without the users there will be no Cyberspace. It also said that Cyberspace existed due to what the physical world called the Internet but then again if there were no users using the Internet then there will be no Cyberspace. Just like the physical world it was created from from gas and dust in space. Who are they to claim the physical world for themselves? Just because they were most intelligent being on the face of the physical world they thought they have the rights to run the physical world as they please?
Zero: True. Cyberspace, cannot be created by any mere physical users nor technology. But the millions of users around the physical world makes up Cyberspace.
Zwei: Not to mention, if Cyberspace was taken over by the tyrants of the physical world. They would inject Cyberspace would their nonsensical laws! Their laws has more loopholes then a swiss cheese sandwich! Our laws may not be perfect, but it has given us order far better then that of the physical world.
Drei: But it is true, that our order that they claimed to be the source of many problems.
Zwei: Drei! Are you saying that you agree with invaders?!
Drei: Maybe... My point is recent activities on Cyberspace has been causing chaos in the physical world. And I think this could be the reason why they want to invade Cyberspace.
Zwei: Whatever happens in Cyberspace and the physical world are two completely different things!
Drei: Listen to yourself Zwei! Our world was created for users to come together to share information, not causing a ruckus out in the physical world!
Zero: That's enough you two. Before your emotions begins to cloud your judgments, I shall sum up the points so far.
Zwei & Drei: ....
Zero: Drei does have a point why the invader attempted to intervene with our world. But like Zwei said whatever happens in the Cyberspace remains at Cyberspace. In Cyberspace we cannot do physical harm to anyone nor can anyone harm one another. Cyberspace is only governed by ethics,enlightened self-interest, and the commonweal but we cannot control whatever happens on the other side of the physical world. No one has ever said what was Cyberspace for nor what was it meant to be, but due to the over tyrannical physical world rules and laws, users has come to take refuge in Cyberspace and express themselves. Cyberspace is a free world on its own, users can express themselves freely as they cannot do that in their own world. Our laws are not draconian but a law sufficient enough to keep order in Cyberspace.
Vier: Erm... Aside from the laws and rules. Cyberspace has now become the most popular place to search for information. In fact let's take for example search engines, it a free way for users to search in our vault of infinite knowledge, and each knowledge could lead them to another knowledge. Not to mention in the physical world, information is scarce and controlled. Users has expressed that their traditional source of info which comes in the form of newspaper, television, radio has all been so controlled that they don't know if the truth really is the truth or not just some cover up. If the invaders intervene with Cyberspace think of what will happen to the Vault of Infinite Knowledge! Information could be erase! Users may face copyright charges and many unspeakable chaos would occur!
Funf: Calm down Vier... I think what Vier is trying to saying is that the search engine is a very valuable asset to Cyberspace, losing it could bring about the destruction of Cyberspace as so much information it contains which are mostly of the users. If the invaders does obtain the search engine then users who take refuge in Cyberspace as their place for complete freedom of expression would be gone.
Zero: And once their freedom is ignored Cyberspace may not be their refuge anymore.
Funf: And if we lose users
Zero: We lose Cyberspace.
Drei: But it is what is housed in the Vault of Infinite Knowledge (search engine) is the source of the problem! Don't you all see? The information uploaded by users may not be real and this could stirred up a real issue! Given the freedom, is part of the user's nature to abuse freedom by being overly too free and when that happens our mere order would be ignore and Cyberspace may end up like the physical world!
Sechs: Since the search engine is brought up, another issue that needs to be considered is the culture of Cyberspace or rather to the user is known as Internet Culture.
Eins: What about the culture?
Sechs: Recently the internet culture on Cyberspace now is has been redefined. Such as the currency.
Zwei: Currency?
Sechs: Yes, Currency that users now used on the Internet. But the currency we are talking about here is not money wise but feebacks and come in the form of material. Nowadays many altruistic users tend to upload many things on the internet from songs to movie to game hacks even information. Some of these maybe requested and some not.
Drei: So how is this a bad thing?
Sechs: Well this just relates back to Vier's point on copyright infringement. But other then that, I think this culture is fine as things become more digitalized aren't we doing a favor to the physical world by saving them resources?
Sieben: The ignorance of the physical world... through their constant rise in high standard of living, the users spend more time on their careers then family, more time on assignments then friends. The physical world is turning into a mindless rat race where everyone is competing with one another.
Zero: And the user who spend too much time online Seiben?
Sieben: We are the users best bet to re-connect them with the other users as well as them love ones. As some user may find impossible to approach someone in the physical world, they won't feel that way in Cyberspace. Plus, we the existence of social networking sites now it is easier for the users to keep track of other user friends of theirs. Cyberspace or the internet provides the means and tool for users of the same interest to meet and gather to share their knowledge and information.
Acht: But due to this, users are beginning to take up more of a double persona on the internet. Users can create multiple of different persona which can be misleading to others. I have seen male user in online games pretending to be female users in order to get free items and help from other users.
Zero: You do have a point Acht, but we do not have the rights to tell users who they have to be and what they have to be in Cyberspace. Which is why Cyberspace is a refuge for many to express themselves differently. Pretending to be someone else in the physical is usually frowned upon but in Cyberspace they can explore all they one. Cyberspace does not limit their users.
Nenh: And because Cyberspace does not limit their users, new opportunities can be found. Cyberspace provides the means for new industries and new distribution of wealth. Users can now explore the many options of a possible new industries or jobs or marketplace, and this could benefit Cyberspace more and allow it to grow further! User now can extend their arms and reach more people such as blog shop, online shopping and etc.
*rumbling noise*
Zero: Gentlemen I fear that our discussion would have to be shorten, as it seems that the invaders have penetrated our walls. Nevertheless, Cyberspace will always be a place where users are free from draconian laws and they will have the freedom to express themselves and expand their knowledge! If the invader wants we will them a war..
*To be continue.... or so*
Based on A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow
Thursday 11 August 2011
Why Networks matter?
Exactly why do networks matter? I used to question myself about this when I was younger, being the anti social I was then I didn't really care much about establishing network with people, but it hit me like a ton of brick when I realize how important it is to have networks when I became older and more sociable.
"This is why we live in a network society, not information society or knowledge society"
I have to agree with this particular part of the journal, as what Castells stated that we today are more of an network society socialite. Take for example, look at today how some business flourish so well even though they just started in less then a year ago, or how a fresh graduate could get a higher pay then his other colleague? The answer to that is having networks, it is believe that so long you have an abundance of network you will have flourishing business, better opportunities and etc.
"First, the network society expands on a global scale."
Castells states that globalization knows no boundaries and also stated that material communication infrastructure is the basis of multidimensional networks. While network society is organized on a global scale, not all territories and people are connected to it. However, all countries are influenced by it through logic, interest and conflict. Meanwhile, the multidimensional networks structure people's life around the globe, while also being shaped and modified by codes and programs created by people. My take on this bit, would be that network society are influenced globally towards the fact that is so influential that it affects everyone, whereas information society or multidimensional networks are only influence on whatever that happens online which is usually created by scripts and codes.
"Second, networked organizations out competes all form of organization"
Network expand through vertical, rigid and command and control bureaucracies in the business world. I find it quite true as companies today need to build partnership and network in order to survive the "big boys" competitions, especially the small and medium sized companies who would usually be "swallowed up" by the bigger companies to take out the competition.
"Third, the networking of political institutions is the de facto response"
Politics, as dirty as a game it can be we are all govern by them. I agree with the fact that they are the de facto response to management crisis in a nation but to what extent? Is hiding the truth away from the public considered a crisis management to avoid a mass hysteria or just to hide some illegal scandal?
"Fourth, civil society is reconstructed at a local and global level"
Freedom of speech today seems to be only available to the extent of the internet, but even so we can still get into trouble. The term freedom of speech has long been debated all around the world to the point that is rather rhetorical.
"Fifth, sociability is transformed in new historical context"
In other words, most people are creating their own network using the likes of Facebook and Google +. Is the best way to get in touch with any of your networks.
"Sixth, the whole range of social practices, both global and local, communicates in the media space."
Being able to utilize all forms of media gives anyone the edge, as media shaped the way we think. It is also both flexible and interactivity gives media an infinite capacity to integrate and exclude, thus defining the boundaries of society.
The last point that Castells pointed out was that in today network society, power continues to the fundamental structuring force which is true, but powers ultimately doesn't lie in the hands of political institute or huge corporations. But they are in the hands of the people, we are part of the network after all and we are the ones that make out society. To counter the network of power, new networks has to be introduced. By doing so, the ones dominating the network of power for too long would be taken completely off guard. But is hard to say for us living in Malaysia as the people still fights for their freedom or speech and the power hungry politicians.
Monday 1 August 2011
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