Objective Analysis

Clearly unable to update frequently. Nothing pertinent to say, although apparently I could be classified as having any one of four personality disorders. Rather makes me question whether psychology should be labelled as "science", as it's more like cumulative educated guesses. I suppose if I intend to try to attempt to consider maybe posting here more often I need to actually think of something worth taking the time to work on.

For anyone (really?) who is interested: Borderline, Avoidant, Depressive and Schizoid. None fully, but elements of them all. Typical me, never one of anything, even myself.

Making the grade

Semester and subject over, results finally in. Apparently got a Distinction for my lack of efforts and constant complaining. This world does not make sense.

So as a strange place to maybe start posting here, I thought I'd share something with any random stranger in the world who might happen by:

I feel like I'm waiting for something that I know isn't going to happen. Like the world is going to end but I'm somehow not permitted to go nuts and enjoy myself. So I sit here, stuck, waiting for an end without an expectation of its arrival.

Perhaps that was not as profound as I thought, certainly wasn't as eloquent as I might have liked. Confused? Me too.

Maybe if I start posting crap here people might start reading it, maybe I can "monetise" my entries and make some cash off of idiots willing to click on advertising floating all over the page.

I'm sure everyone is holding their breath...

Week 10 - Better Late?

I doubt it, but anyway as per my threat, as list of links that I will be utilising for the purposes of constructing my essay, just to give me access to them while writing. And yes - I'm lazy.

So lazy that I'm not doing this - I'll just post my essay with reference list after I'm done, which could happen any time, really.

Week 10 - Cyberpunked

Suggesting that fantasy has won is ignoring the wonder of the internet, seeing as how you can find an audience for anything here. Not to mention the fact that the popularity of various genres of entertainment seems to go in cycles - like pirate movies (by which I mean movies about pirates on the high seas of the 16th and 17th centuries, maybe even later) and anyway I did mention it...

Temerity arises when no one is looking so this post will be offensively perfunctory. Other post to be a list of links to sources for the essay, and yes I'm aware of the date.

Week 9 1/2 - Not a reference to that movie as I've never seen it

So here is my lame attempt at a video project - as I found that I had actually made things difficult for myself with the amount of editing that needed to be done and the video became too long and my microphone was acting up so instead of a voice over I put stupid subtitles which means some of the cuts are too brief to read them properly while others are a little too long. Anyway, it's machinima, the theme of the video may not be quite as apparent with the text, so it's about, well, a nightmare, which is about perception of reality and interaction between people and what can seem normal to one person or a group. Well, try to enjoy it, or don't, whatever.

EDIT: Video removed in an attempt to placate the Adsense people complaining about copyright material on this blog.

Week 9 - Fascist Democracy

Post to come later, just didn't want to forget the title. Also video needs to be done. If this is me reading this, why aren't you finishing this?

Because I'm a procrastinator. So depending on what you would consider my polical beliefs to be, one might suggest I can't do any of those and stick to them. Or all of them, as long as I'm the one telling myself to do them... Wait I'm confusing myself. I suppose the main point I'd like to make about "internet democracy" is that is not what it claims to be. Whether it be the coding language to program websites and pages, or the little clique communities that crop up everywhere, someone else will be dictating the rules to you. Even this page you're reading is for people like me who couldn't be bothered learning how to make our own website, so we have to follow the rules of the host. I could rant on but I'd run out of space. As a funny side note - the "Military Entertainment Complex" reading talks about the war in Iraq as being scripted like a Hollywood blockbuster, yet - perhaps due to being published before the war ended - omits the comic twist of the US government's failure to cover up the fact that they never found any WMD, you know, the whole premise of the invasion and all that?

Well, I thought it was funny.

Week 9 - Plots & Plans

Well I think it's obvious that I will be examining whether video games have a negative impact on the player. Not exactly original. However, I do think that a broader definition of "negative impact" is required - popular media loves to play on the "violent video games make violent people" stance. While this cannot be ignored, I prefer to find scientific studies rather than anecdotal evidence. And more than just the violent games breeding violence (which of course the major question is "how") I intend to examine potential negative physiological impacts, resulting from more innocuous situations, such as bad posture leading to neck and shoulder pain, carpal tunnel, eye damage, epileptic seizures and so forth. Beyond the fear mongering, is gaming (not just violent action games, but addictive casual games) having a measurable negative impact on the players? As for my position - hell yes it's having a negative impact, even though that's just my piece at the moment, soon there will be some actual evidence to back it up - I hope.

Week 8 - Ownership

From a legal standpoint, I have no idea whether I can be classified as the owner of the video I'm producing. The specific edit of the clips will be mine, the narration voice over will be mine. Clearly the game that the clips are captured from is not mine - although I own a copy, it doesn't make me the creative possessor of the game's content. This begs the question of whether or not the video will be taken down due to legal copyright concerns. Apparently as long as I use no more than ten percent of the total content of the game in the video, I should be safe. And given how much content there is in New Vegas, I don't think a minute or two of clips will come anywhere near one percent, let alone ten. I still haven't actually explored the entirety of what's available in the game, and I've racked up at least 160 hours playing it. Granted I tend to play most elements repeatedly, but my point still stands - please don't sue me for copyright violations. There will be credits, the producers of the game will be acknowledged as such, more to the point I'm not profiting from this video, I'm not selling it, it's for assessment at university. I'm poor and unemployed, there is no money to be had from me.

Week 8 - Creatively Common

As the Doctorow reading points out, the real problem arising from traditional copyright laws is that on the internet, they are largely unenforceable. I imagine that as an extension of that, the only way to track violators of copyright laws would be to violate privacy laws. Not only as a moral debate but as a legal debate, is the chasing down of what might turn out to be the majority of the population legal or even practical? Big companies that want to sue pirates for millions in damages are ultimately alienating their consumers and also removing their ability to be a consumer. If I were sued into bankruptcy and destitution I've lost my ability to be a legitimate consumer, therefore I've lost incentive to avoid piracy. As a creator however, what concerns me more than the thought of someone else making money off my work (which would be the situation as a published author, if I ever finished anything) I despair at the thought of someone taking credit for my work and ideas, claiming them as their own, so I find that the creative commons revolution is something of a progressive step, as long as the author of borrowed work is acknowledged, we're getting somewhere.

Week 7 - Work in Progress

Not much to say on production, as production hasn't really commenced. Footage has been obtained using FRAPS, was quite easy, have the program running while gaming, press a key to record/stop. I've recorded all the footage I believe I'll utilise, plus some that will likely not make the cut as it will be difficult to find a place for everything, if there were even enough time. The game of choice is Fallout: New Vegas developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. I'm not going to claim any of the video content as my own, only the edit will be my production. No script for the voice over as yet, I have many ideas, just need to sort them out, may not even write them down as it will be a matter of fitting it very closely with the edit of the video. Plus I hope it turns out as entertaining as I imagine, never can tell if people will laugh at the same things.

Week 7 - Pot Luck

I have not actually edited anything on Wikipaedia, or Wikipedia I suppose they might like to spell it. That is the majority of my distaste in regards to their entries, their appalling language skills. I often feel too tempted to "fix" things, just a little. I never usually get past this, as I just treat the site as a way to find directions to actual sources rather than as a source itself. So by not delving too deeply, I'm not usually encountering that most heinous of crimes (apparently), that of presenting opinion without acknowledgement that it is such. As the Kostakis reading pointed out even the people who review what material is pertinent can't agree on what is pertinent, or even if the process is necessary or problematic. A sorry state to be sure, it's a wonder anything makes it onto that site.

Week 6 - We'll Live in a Video

Seeing as how I waited so long to post this I've already had my brief moments of thought with regards to the short video piece I'm supposed to make for this blog, so there is not much of an ongoing process to describe. As far as basic concept: a short film that I believe would be classified as "machinma", utilising footage from a favourite game of mine and creating something hopefully entertaining and original. I think this would be appropriate since I'm likely to pursue the essay topic relating to gaming's effects on the players. As far as tools for production go, pretty much just plan to use FRAPS, at least the free version, to capture video from the game, and fall back on Windows Movie Maker for editing, since it is also free and I already have it. After that it's mainly a matter of writing or improvising a voice over for the video, otherwise it wouldn't really be coherent. Not that it's likely to be coherent anyway. I figure I should be covered for copyright as long as I acknowledge the game, FRAPS, Movie Maker and my own input so that there is a clear distinction between them. And since I'm not likely mention any real living people, I think should avoid being sued for defamation as well.

Week 6 - Download Hollywood

It was mentioned in the lecture that perhaps the big wigs at Hollywood studios are beginning to think audiences aren't so concerned with  the quality of their product due to a willingness for consumers to download cam recorded versions of films the day they are released.  I would suggest that it is more indicative of a desire for greater quality entertainment, and as such, they would prefer to know beforehand if they consider the movie worth paying for; given the general apathy of audiences towards the continuing improvement of technology over content, sure the films look better and sound better, but they are still just bright colours and loud noises, a cacophony of over stimulation without intellectual engagement. I think this is evidenced in the Mascioni reading where it is mentioned that independent filmmakers are turning to their audience not only for funding, but for input into the final edit of the film; giving the audience a very clear interaction with their own entertainment that is rather lacking in the Hollywood studio system.

Week 5 - Kid's Games

Just treat all URLs as being accessed on Aug 26th, Brisbane time.

EDIT: Post was completely wiped because of an overabundance of links that may be what Adsense takes issue with.

Week 5 - Oh that's "clever"

My first impression of "Rubber" is that its writer/director/whatever wants to mock and insult the audience for all of those elements of entertainment that are taken for granted; and in pointing them out desires adulation simply for being "clever". Steal this movie. By the way - while there is an awful lot of "no reason" in real life (such as the fact that life is pointless and all meaning is assigned, not inherent) this film and indeed most films aren't actually displaying "no reason", they're simply not stating the reason to the audience. I don't want to give too much credit to bad filmmakers though, because most of the time - including "Rubber" - the reason is "because the writer/director/whatever said so". And yes I've been lazy and not really gone through the readings, going really off of my impressions of the portion of the film that was shown. As for identifying the first plot point - not sure, but if it's about surprising the audience then I'd say when the tyre first starts moving on it's own. If it's about surprising the "audience", then I'd say when it first demonstrates its mind-splodey powers, that generates quite a stir amongst them.

Week 5 - Essay Musings

I'm tempted to follow up item 2 with regards to gaming, due in part to my earlier post on the same subject. I think the main problem I would face in covering that topic would be restraining myself from spewing opinionated vitriol at arguments that I disagree with; mainly because I find that when people study such subjects "scientifically" they are actually drawing conclusions before conducting their research, so "gaming is bad for kids and I'm going to prove it" seems to appear in popular media too frequently for my taste. Another possibility is covering how narratives are changing due to new tech. There is certainly enough history there: cinema changed theatre, TV changed cinema, video changed TV and DVD basically said "screw you, television" and allowed the audience to enjoy their viewing entertainment whenever they wanted and have it be completely free of advertisement, which of course is the main reason people hate TV, or at least it is for me. Might be easier on the gaming subject, I'm sure there are studies suggesting that there can be some benefit from gaming, and most provable negatives are probably more physiological despite how often the attention is paid to psychological effects, my point there being that no one seems to want to study the brainwaves of people watching violent sports or movies as much as they study gamers.
Maybe because gamers are more willing to sit still for longer?

Week 4 - Terms of Servitude

According to this the terms of use for this very service, they may "refuse service to anyone at any time without notice for any reason". I suppose that means even after they have allowed a user access to the service. That statement immediately follows their age disclaimer, that you must be at least thirteen years of age to use Blogger. I don't recall being asked for any proof of age or identity when signing up though... I could comment on that but someone there might read it and disapprove and terminate my account with extreme prejudice against all those who point out their stupidity... oops. Reminds me of an email I had at aussiemail - suspended without notice or explanation. Really very annoying. The way I read it - this service is provided and they claim no responsibility for the content yet may rescind the privilege of access due to use of said content. So the only things really that make them remove user posted content are local laws of the nation or state in which the poster resides. Sounds like Blogger has no standards or opinions.

Week 4 - Game on

Alright so I'm an antisocial misanthrope who enjoys playing games on my computer. There now that my qualifications are out in the open I feel like I can comment on this subject without having to listen to anyone else's opinion because I'm right you're all idiots. That strikes me as more rational than researchers who study the effect of video games on the players. Such as this little nugget of nonsense which yes, is just a student's research paper based on some other people's work, but still adopts a rather annoying attitude of "games make people crazy" that reminds me of tales of "devil's music" and "jungle fever" that arises when there is some new cultural phenomenon that old people don't understand. Granted that it will have an effect on brain activity, but to suggest that video games are what made me into the social outcast living in a cave is completely misjudging their data. Interpretation is key - maybe they like games because of the way they are wired, not the games rewiring the brain. I like games because they cam be fun and entertaining, and I'm isolated from people because I hate them. Plus the hating people came first, so suck on that!

Actually that's not entirely true, but I do play a lot more now than I did as a kid - I suppose because I had "friends".

Week 3 - Internet Archaeology

Except IRC - my chosen topic due to the fact that I have actually used it couple of times over a decade ago - is still in use today. Indeed apparently still serving more than half a million users amongst the top 100 servers alone. Apologies for the lack of "proper" references in this post, every search led me to more websites, none of them journals. Plus I'm lazy. Also no one was really shouting out the peak number of users since the inception of IRC, though since it's still going I imagine it was quite a few. The date of "birth" for IRC was sometime in August 1988 according to it's creator, Jarkko Oikarinen and given it's position as one of, if not the earliest example of real-time communication replacing mailing lists and BBS posts. While the tech itself may not be quite the same, it is also essentially the genesis of "chat rooms" that are now often hosted within websites, rather than on specific channels dedicated for that purpose. Another lazy hyperlink to a document from 1993 co-authored by Oikarinen provides some perspective that I'm not going into here. Also some controversy about file sharing - go 'net.

Week 3 - Bloggercise

Well I'm lazy and easily frustrated and will quit as soon as something gives me a headache - which is nearly everything - so I will not cheat and post the only 2 answers for those searches required. For some reason, Internet and database searches hate me and every time I try to find something to do with Stephen Stockwell or Paul Soukup or mobile phones I hit walls. There was some thing about phones and cancer and that is apparently still counted as "new" medical thinking thanks to some classification from the World Health Organisation, but I'm too lazy to chase down a credible source. Thus I arrive at the easy answers:

Governor Slugwell's first appearance, found through the underground comics trial database:
Burden, Bob, 1985, "When the Shoes Aren't Worth the Shine", Flaming Carrot Comics, no. 7

Leon's reaction to Holden's query:
   "Leon looks shocked, surprised. But the needles in the computer barely move. Holden goes for the inside of his coat. But big Leon is faster. His laser burns a hole the size of a nickel through Holden's stomach. Unlike a bullet, a laser causes no impact. It goes through Holden's shoulder and comes out of his back, clean as a whistle. Like a rag doll he falls back into the seat. Big slow Leon is already walking away, but he stops, turns, and with a little smile of satisfaction fires through the back of the seat."
From:
Francher, Hampton & Peoples, David Webb & Kibbee, Roland, 1982, Blade Runner Draft Script, Alexander Street Press

And yes I know that this is later than it should be and of course incomplete. I still have to half-ass my way through the other required activities, leave me alone.

Week 3 - Brain, meet world

Reading through the Halpern reading and couldn't help but notice the little alarms raised by the discussion of the "World Wide Mind" and the technologically integrated human.I must say I was surprised that there would be anyone that excited about hooking up their brain to the Internet; is there not already enough over-stimulation in the world for you Mr. Chorost? And the personalised Google searches... ugh, so personal reinforcement of our own ideas is the goal - then may I say that Google is not a tool for communication but a tool for division, and the thought that no one would dare use this hall of mirrors for mass manipulation is one of the stupidest things I've ever encountered. Mass connectivity isn't really the fault of the Google algorithm though, as let's face it, people would rather engage with the familiar and associate with people who share the same opinions as they do; that is the basis of civilisation, and the reinforcement is just so much like a religion - this is the way, follow it, it is good, it's worked so far. If I could reach out, press a button and get all of you to behave according to my will, of course I'd do it. I'd make you better than you are, make you live up to your own expectations and ideals. And I'm not the only one who thinks that way. I know why people are scared of different ideas, hey if you let someone else's thoughts in your mind, it wouldn't be your mind. I just wish people would think about that next time they find themselves agreeing with someone.

And for anyone who doesn't like the thought of being monitored by governments and corporations, think about how much of yourself you're putting out for free on these stupid social networking sites and then shut up.

Week 2 - Video fun

Well I suppose first I should explain the selection (it had far less swearing than I remembered) - aside from being completely absurd and silly, it is a prime example of machinima - taking existing media and manipulating them for the purposes of creating a new work. Sort of the digital version of scrap art. In addition to this, the only reason this clip exists is thanks to an internet meme, specifically in this case all the nonsense that surrounds Chuck Norris. If you cannot draw a connection to new comm tech studies from that information than I can't help you. Anyway, this video is created from "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" computer game with music and such from various other sources. It is episode 2, because episode 1 is kind of boring, 2 & 3 are the most entertaining in my opinion. Enjoy. Oh, and the credit at the bottom is for the poster on dailymotion, not the creator of the video.

EDIT: Removed video for possible copyright infringement, although it makes me wonder how people post anything on here without someone making wild claims of ownership.

Week 2 - More to come

Finding 5 others is a process... video to come later when I find one - this stuff can be over multiple posts right?

I was going to be lazy about the application for analysis and mention the Google search engine, but I'm going to be even lazier and mention something that helps me analyse the Google search engine. AVG - a free virus scanner -so again no plugs, has an application within it called Linkscanner. So when running a search, the links will have a little symbol next to them indicating the likelihood of encountering spam or pop-ups or malware embedded in the site that the link directs you to. Quite frankly it's alarming the number of top Google searches that have warnings from linkscanner, and I will only consider clicking a link that is deemed "safe" although that is a very relative term. But as I said, it is disturbing how many top 10 links will have warnings associated with them - is Google trying to infect us all?

Also last week I mentioned that many seem not to treat language itself as THE communication technology, well at least it seems the teaching staff do, so that's a relief. I suppose I must mention how I liked the organisation of the McGaughey reading categorised the different streams/schools of communication tech, although having all of them alongside each other would make for a wonderful comparison of contemporary technological developments. I must protest though; the credit given to Thomas Edison is misplaced, he was a patent holder, not an inventor. He was very good at taking credit for other's work, I'm surprised he isn't credited with inventing plagiarism.

Week 2 - Pre-emptive strike

To jump ahead of the potential suggestion that I'm misusing this tech I'd like to clarify with a couple of examples:

Eating a picture of food is misusing the medium

Setting a mobile phone to vibrate and using it for sexual stimulation is misusing the tech

I'm expressing myself for the purpose of a passing grade - so all I can say in my defense is that I find it difficult to achieve a balance between an appropriate academic tone and something that doesn't make me want to kill myself. If I can't have fun with this then I will go mad and then I become really, really not much of anything at all.

Not sure where I was going with that.

Week 2 - Out of order

Well if I was supposed to do things at certain times, I've already screwed that up. Part 2 of this week's requirements will be brought to you by the power of Steam - the online digital distribution game shop and social network. That's not a plug either, it happens to be one of only two methods with which I engage with new comm tech, the other being MSN messenger, or "Windows LIVE" messenger as it is now. Either way, both programs are used by yours truly for instant messaging, but that interaction goes no further than a few relatives and a couple of their friends that I met at some LAN gatherings. So basically, not a whole lot of interacting going on. I don't even play online much, so even Steam's new community functions aren't really something I engage with. And yes that was my choice - I don't like people, they're annoying idiots for the most part.

It was suggested that ruminations on the issue of online privacy should be raised - the best defence is always ennui. If you are completely boring or normal or just plain avoid attention, privacy isn't much of a concern. What I find more intriguing are the people who complain about invasion of privacy - yet their social network pages are littered with personal information, not to mention the links to their family and friends.

My point is that you can feel safe if you avoid all contact and live like a hermit.

Week 1 - In response to the lecture 28/7

Yes I know, two days late. Whoever invented timestamps I would curse your name if I knew what it was. As I didn't hang around for the entire lecture, I don't know if this specific point was raised; but when the discussion of what constitutes a "new" or "old" technology arose, I couldn't help but think that all of them were simply refinements of the oldest communication technology around: language. Starting with gesture and basic vocalisations through to the spoken word and the pinnacle of human achievement: writing. Granted we have found new means to utilise language, but all these techs are built on the same elements. Telegraph through to instant messages, not too different from the Pony Express, just faster. Telephone is still just long distance conversation, television an impersonal public speech. You're still talking or writing, and it seems to me that no one wants to consider language itself as a technology. Then again I hardly ever interact with anyone else, so I'm certain that all my "original" ideas have been thought of before. My main point - if I have one - is that at their base, these "new" techs aren't even using new methods, just a different mode of distribution. When phone hacking was mentioned, I found it hard not to think of the simple act of opening someone else's mail, and the other kind of phone hacking - wiretapping - is just the same as eavesdropping on a public conversation.

Ah well, way of the future I guess.

Week 1 - I have no idea (transcribed)

Lifted from what will now be an aborted tumblr blog. I hoped I'd never have to use the word "blog" in a sentence... Now commences the mental diarrhoea.

So this is the part where I’m supposed to share myself with others despite having absolutely no desire to do so. Also preset word length requirements are an issue, verbosity not often counted amongst my greatest assets and capabilities. So expect nonsense and repetition in abundance. I’m already blanking, my head hurts and I don’t know if I’m going to stay here, it’s boring and no fun at all. I’m amazed at all of you people who think that the rest of the world wants to hear about the minutiae of your dull existence, as yes it is likely that your life is only exciting to you. I will point out that if I were do this of my own volition (which I would not) this is exactly the kind of content you could expect of me: whiny bitching about how crap everyone is how much I hate them. Of course should I continue this will unfortunately not be the case as there is assessment to consider. I will however take this opportunity to fling insults, particularly at the lecturer for his delivery, where half the utterances are along the lines of “um, ah” and such. I’m already spent, hopefully this has successfully introduced me with an incomplete impression of my personality. Now to wander off and come up with some enthralling nonsense in response to the lecture.