This week's blog post is in response to Manovich's article What Is New Media? as well as excerpts from Winston's book Media Technology and Society A History From The Telegraph to the Internet.
I have to say they were very thorough histories of all of our modern technologies and they were fascinating reads but I they seem a little dates to me. They read as if they were written at some point during the mid to late 1990s or early 2000s and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they were.
These articles (and Manovich's piece in particular which is my main basis for commentary here) have a particularly interesting point of view regarding technology. For instance, Manovich's piece is meant to determine how we distinguish between "old media" and "new media" but looks at the issue from a very functional and technical perspective. Manovich essentially describes how technology has advanced in a way we interact with the technology itself. However, when most people in early 2013 are asked what distinguishes "old media" and "new media" they think about how we use it as a channel to interact with other people and less about how the technology itself functions in order to do so.
If Manovich had written his article today, his distinction between "old media" and "new media" would no doubt have to be modified to discuss how the flow of information and content is controlled. "Old media" such as print, radio, television and land line telephones were little more than one way conduits of information that we took in very passively and didn't use to contact others. "New media" today such as mobile devices (smartphones, tablets), social networking platforms (Twitter, Facebook) and other corners of the internet such as YouTube, message boards and even blogging sites just like this one (basically, for better or worse, anything with a comments section) encourage much more active consumption.
Nowadays, anyone can post pretty much whatever content they may want anywhere on the internet in any medium and anyone else who sees it can post a response or begin some forms of discussion. Thanks to the internet and its increasing accessibility and ease of use over the past few years, media control has been gradually shifting from the big corporations and media conglomerations to average everyday people like you and me. These articles missed out on that as they seem to have been written in a time where it wasn't really happening yet (unless I'm mistaken).
Monday, January 28, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Inside Hacking and Hacktivism
This blog post is in response to the articles The Hacker Work Ethic by Hinamen and What Is Hacktivism 2.0? from metac0m.
To first offer my critique of what I just read, I would say that both articles start out really strong, but gradually lose their focus by the end. The metac0m article starts out really strong with providing several definitions of the term "hacktivism" as well as its basic underlying ideals and principles, but starts to run out of steam when it cites actual cases of hacktivism occurring on websites in the early years of mainstream internet prominence (which the article classifies as the period between 1997-2000). This portion of the article jumped back and forth from case to case without providing any real insight into their significance in history or elaborating more on some necessary details of how they pulled off such acts.
As for the Hinamen chapter, it came off a s just a little too ambitious for its own good. Hinamen did a fine job of reiterating the concepts and beliefs held by hacking enthusiasts, but when it starts going into events form the history of Western Civilization such as the histories of Christianity and the Protestant Reformation, the reader starts to wonder how this is relevant to hacking until they read the conclusion. The conclusion did a serviceable job of tying the whole article together, but it would've served the article better had the author went back to how his ideas relate to hacktivism as he mentioned something from history.
Now, for my commentary on the idea of hacktivism. I believe the idea has some great potential, but we just haven't seen it applied in a meaningful way in real life yet. The metac0m article bought up some instances of hacktivism, but those were examples that didn't really change a whole lot in the long run and ultimately seem forgettable in retrospect.
Hacktivists have some admirable tenements in that they believe information should be easily accessible to all who wish to see it and that they hate censorship (which in itself is kind of an ambiguous phrasing). It would really be something if they could get into the government records of a country like China which is known for actively trying to censor information from its citizens particularly on the internet. and made such information more easily accessible. Anyone who was following world news closely around two years ago has seen what kind of effects mere social media has had in orchestrating "the Arab Spring". I believe hacktivists can acheive something similar and that it would be a better use of all their time and effort than targetting online shopping websites.
To first offer my critique of what I just read, I would say that both articles start out really strong, but gradually lose their focus by the end. The metac0m article starts out really strong with providing several definitions of the term "hacktivism" as well as its basic underlying ideals and principles, but starts to run out of steam when it cites actual cases of hacktivism occurring on websites in the early years of mainstream internet prominence (which the article classifies as the period between 1997-2000). This portion of the article jumped back and forth from case to case without providing any real insight into their significance in history or elaborating more on some necessary details of how they pulled off such acts.
As for the Hinamen chapter, it came off a s just a little too ambitious for its own good. Hinamen did a fine job of reiterating the concepts and beliefs held by hacking enthusiasts, but when it starts going into events form the history of Western Civilization such as the histories of Christianity and the Protestant Reformation, the reader starts to wonder how this is relevant to hacking until they read the conclusion. The conclusion did a serviceable job of tying the whole article together, but it would've served the article better had the author went back to how his ideas relate to hacktivism as he mentioned something from history.
Now, for my commentary on the idea of hacktivism. I believe the idea has some great potential, but we just haven't seen it applied in a meaningful way in real life yet. The metac0m article bought up some instances of hacktivism, but those were examples that didn't really change a whole lot in the long run and ultimately seem forgettable in retrospect.
Hacktivists have some admirable tenements in that they believe information should be easily accessible to all who wish to see it and that they hate censorship (which in itself is kind of an ambiguous phrasing). It would really be something if they could get into the government records of a country like China which is known for actively trying to censor information from its citizens particularly on the internet. and made such information more easily accessible. Anyone who was following world news closely around two years ago has seen what kind of effects mere social media has had in orchestrating "the Arab Spring". I believe hacktivists can acheive something similar and that it would be a better use of all their time and effort than targetting online shopping websites.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Inside Future Posts
Those of you actually reading this blog should expect a new post every week by around Tuesday night or Wednesday morning as they are due by the start of Wednesday's class every week or so I've been told.
Also, I just decided to start a new third blog just for fun that's not for any class. There's no real point to this post other than an excuse for me to try out the new Blogger Android app I got for my phone. Anyway, see you Wednesday!
Also, I just decided to start a new third blog just for fun that's not for any class. There's no real point to this post other than an excuse for me to try out the new Blogger Android app I got for my phone. Anyway, see you Wednesday!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Inside Expectations and Uncertainties
One of my expectations is that this class will give us the tolls to take advantage of today's social media in a way that will be beneficial to our futures. After all, social media is the next hot commodity and this class is to fulfill a requirement in some fields of study. Countless people have been insightful and fortunate enough to use it to make a semi-successful name for themselves, integrate it seamlessly within their own careers or just put themselves out there more easily. I hope this class gives us all that same potential. As a Media Studies major in the J-School, I am curious to see how the TAM certificate can integrate with my own career path.
One of my uncertainties is exactly how much of this class will have to do with technology and how much it will have to do with communication. Maybe communication is a cornerstone to social media and digital technology, but it's still an entirely different field of study from this class. I know it's only the second day of class, but the introduction to this site and this blog assignment has been the only relevant technology discussion so far. I'm sure that will change immediately in the coming days.
Another expectation of mine is that this class will also be a chance for our generation to hone our writing skills. In terms of social media, long form blogs like this one are really the last bastion of actual semi formal writing skills that are still necessary not only in college and academia, but also in most workplaces. Blogs are really good for the texting generation to brush up on the essentials of the English language even in college.
Another uncertainty is that I may not be able to my time wisely enough between this and all the other classes I am taking this semester. This is the second blog I have to maintain for this class. I have a lot of reading to get done in my Media Studies class here soon. I also have to present a paper abstract in this class by next week. MY new work schedule at Norlin isn't all that conducive to studying during my shifts. This first week has just felt packed so far but I guess that's all on me, right? This being my senior year, I guess that's to be expected.
Other than that, I am excited to be taking this class.
One of my uncertainties is exactly how much of this class will have to do with technology and how much it will have to do with communication. Maybe communication is a cornerstone to social media and digital technology, but it's still an entirely different field of study from this class. I know it's only the second day of class, but the introduction to this site and this blog assignment has been the only relevant technology discussion so far. I'm sure that will change immediately in the coming days.
Another expectation of mine is that this class will also be a chance for our generation to hone our writing skills. In terms of social media, long form blogs like this one are really the last bastion of actual semi formal writing skills that are still necessary not only in college and academia, but also in most workplaces. Blogs are really good for the texting generation to brush up on the essentials of the English language even in college.
Another uncertainty is that I may not be able to my time wisely enough between this and all the other classes I am taking this semester. This is the second blog I have to maintain for this class. I have a lot of reading to get done in my Media Studies class here soon. I also have to present a paper abstract in this class by next week. MY new work schedule at Norlin isn't all that conducive to studying during my shifts. This first week has just felt packed so far but I guess that's all on me, right? This being my senior year, I guess that's to be expected.
Other than that, I am excited to be taking this class.
Inaugural Post
Welcome to Dissecting Information Technology with me, Casey Killingsworth. The main purpose of this blog is, much like my Digital Journalism blog, to post assignments for ATLS 2000-002 class (Meaning of Info. Tech) at CU Boulder. There's not much else to say here except that later on today I will be posting my first assignment response about my expectations and uncertainties regarding this class as soon as I have a little more time to put some actual thought into it first. Stay tuned!
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