Week 11 - Essay update

Essay plan approved in class. Further virtual discussion.
When you have completed your essay you must post it onto your weblog by 5pm of Friday of week 12.

Week 10 - Essay Update

Essay Question: Does the extensive use of computer/video games have an adverse impact on the health of young people. What are the most recent papers? Clarify what both sides of the argument claim and only then offer your reasoned opinion based on facts.
Task: Organise essay research online with Diigo, Bubbl and other tools. Reference at least five books or journal articles. Link your research development to your blog. Engage in virtual discussion with other class members.

References
Allum, P. (2009). Educational gaming in the health sciences: systematic review. Journal of advanced nursing . 65 (2), p. 259.

Johansson, M. (2002). Traffic Jam: Psychological Assessment of a Gaming Simulation . Simulation & gaming. 2 (1), p. 9.

Freeman, C. (2008). Internet Gaming Addiction. Journal for nurse practitioners. 4 (1), p.42.

Thilmany, J. (2010). Good gaming. Mechanical engineering (New York, N.Y. 1919). 132 (3), p. 17.

Voth, D. (2007). Evolutions in Gaming. IEEE pervasive computing. 6 (2), p. 7.

Week 9 - Readings/Lecture

When most people think of hackers, I can guarantee you that they are thinking of some fat guy sitting at a computer. Some guy who has nothing better to do with his time than to make some viruses just to piss people off. This is the image that hackers have gotten (mainly implemented in by the media) as times gone. Where as in reality hackers in a traditional sense is far different to this according to (Stockwell, 2008).

In fact people became hackers so they could simply better understand the computer programs and systems better.

Stockwell, S. 2008, We’re all hackers now: Doing global democracy, viewed 21^st September 2011, <http://ajax.acue.adelaide.edu.au/~allan/createworld/Stockwell_2008_Hacking.pdf>

Week 9 - Final Video

All photos used in this video are now apart of Creative Commons. However the music used in the video is not as I do not have the rights to it. The band used has been credited at the end. This video does focuses on the theme of New Communication Technologies and how they are such a big part in our lives. The video is a montage of the ‘life’ of a young male’s Mac book Pro and in doing so gives the laptop personification.

The software iMovie was used to edit the video, which is proprietary software. Due to it being free software, which came with the laptop the video, is not at a high standard. Next time I will use a program that is more suited to making higher quality videos. 

Week 9 - Weekly Task

Political participation through the Internet

The weekly tasks were to find how many opportunities that I can find for political participation via the Internet. Also to see how many of the following can I achieve and stick to my political beliefs?

E-petition:

Found at: http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/e-petitions

The petition I signed was: Restoring the natural integrity of Lake McKenzie (Boorangoora) Fraser Island

Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site.

When looking for a professional blogger at a major news site I was able to find some information at ABC News. However once I was on the website I was unable to comment on the blogs.

What is Barak Obama up to today? Can you send him a message about the importance of freedom on the internet?

To see what Barak obama was up to I used me personal twitter account. However, I was unable to see what he was up too, only that that young Americans now have health insurance. I Tweeted to Obama:  “Freedom on the Internet is more important than health insurance :P”

What are the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")?

When looking for information on the Australian Government’s plans to censor the Internet I found an article by Sydney Morning Herald, which explains it in great detail. The Link to the article is: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/internet-censorship-plan-gets-the-green-light-20091215-ktzc.html

What place does censorship have in a democracy?

Censorship is about restricting people viewing abilities meaning that you have the right of privacy.  Democracy is about having the power to vote on issues such as censorship. Meaning in Australia you have the right to say that you want censorship unlike other countries.

Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are. Send one a message.

My local representative is Ross Vasta in the elective of Bonner. 

Week 9 - Essay Preparation

Essay Topic: Does the extensive use of computer/video games have an adverse impact on the health of young people?

Skeleton:

·      Introduction

·      Social health

o   Pros/Cons

o   Social Life

o   Impact on friends and family

o   Education

·      Physical health

o   Pros/Cons

o   Weight/strength

o   Tiredness

o   Overall 

·      Mental health

o   Pros/Cons

o   Overall

·      Conclusion

Week 8 - Readings

This weeks reading was on copyright and its history with a bit of information on creative commons. Amazingly copyright has been around for four-hundred-odd-years. With it only being applied to “a special class of works, generally those created with the intention of commercial exploitation" (Doctorow, 2007). In the modern era however it seems that copyright is used for everything, restricting creative minds.

Creative commons (CC) is good ways to get past copyrights, as it’s the content owners are letting others to use. Copyright is still useful in many areas such as company names, but it prevents many creative masterpieces. "Copyright lasts, fundamentally, forever. It applies, fundamentally, to everything. And this is all happening at the moment when the net is giving more people the chance to communicate to more people in more ways than we ever imagined". (Doctorow, 2007). Copyright will always have a place in this world but when it comes to everything creative then creative commons should take copyrights place.

Cory Doctorow (2007) Cory Doctorow: Creative Common, https://learning.secure.griffith.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_101249_1&frame=top accessed 15 September 2011.