James's Weekly Report

Melbournes Club Lockout Plan

2008-05-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

Todays blog is a bit off topic from eCulture but I thought was an important topic that could effect Melbournes Nightlife.

Due to constant violent incidents that require police attention, the Parliament have introduced a plan to enforce Melbourne’s night clubs to stop patrons venue-hopping after set times as a plan to prevent violence in the CBD.

Obviously the younger generation are furious that they can no longer move onto a different club after a certain hour of the night. This will also decrease revenue for all nightclub owners and could destroy Melbournes vibrent nightlife!.

Australian Hotels Association chief executive Brian Kearney said the policy would ruin many businesses and destroy Melbourne's vibrant night life. "Where is the evidence to suggest that a lockout is warranted in Melbourne and, if it was introduced, what guarantee is there that it would be effective?" Mr Kearney told The Age.

After reading both sides of the story, I would have to agree with the introduction of a Nightclub curfew!

Firstly, People are most aggressive when they leave a night club and try to find another. Often they have consumed alcohol and if refused entry to there next destination, in more cases then one.....a heated argument occurs or they go around causing trouble in the streets of Melbourne.

Secondly, Crime figures showed more then 2000 assaults in the Melbourne’s CBD last year, most in the early hours of the morning.

Superintendent Paul Carey, acting regional commander of the central metropolitan region said police were not at odds with any particular licensed premises. "What we are asking [venues] to do is comply with the laws, to be involved in the responsible service of alcohol and harm minimisation," he said.

If this plan will prevent nightlife voilence in Melbournes CBD, I am all for it!!!!

However it will be interesting to see if Melbournes Clubs owners will actually abide by these rules and if violence in Melbourne’s CBD will actually decrease!

Cybersex

2008-05-11T01:27:00.000-07:00

An intresting topic that has really developed over the last 10 years due to the advancement of technology.

Cybersex reefers to the meeting of the male and the female. It can be referred to as pornography, online dating, online sex and chartrooms.

In a narrow sense, Cybersex is said to be a human/computer interaction in which participants are sexually motivated.

This has caused society to become cyborgs.

A cyborg is classified as mixing technology with our biological side to meet people
Rather then going to events or meeting people.

It is scary to think that we as a society today rely heavily on technology for our entertinament,buiness ventures and survival. A prime example is a man surviving on an electrical device such as a pacemaker, without technology would he still be alive?

The future really has advanced with the introduction of Virtual Reality Based Cybersex such as a software program called "Afterlife". This allowes participants to enter a three dimensional, audiovisual and tactile reality using a Full body data suit which give the user a sense of a realism but in a remote home environment with no human interaction.

The future could that people will choose to meet online rather then in person, as with the case with Rebecca who believes that "she is becoming a cyborg because her sex life is undeniably tied to and dependent upon AOL chat rooms. All her sexual activities involving partners are online. “Rebecca is not sexually active other than with men she meets online. Although she has had cyber-sex and telephone sex with many men through AOL, Rebecca has not physically had sex with a partner since she began using the service. Rebecca does not practice casual sex in the real world because she does not believe it to be moral or safe.
“(Maheu, 1999:5)

Technology has caused a boundary and a relationship between the end user and the machine. Rebecca has defiantly become a cyborg.......scary but true!

We do not want our world to cometo this because in the end, we need human interaction for many reasons but such as reproduction.

Jumping topics, I think it is important to discuss the impact technology has on us as a soicety because with great technology comes great responsibility, this always however somehow leads to misuse.
A major problem in today’s technological world is the use of technology to breach invasion privacy laws or abuse/take advantage of other end users. "Misuse of technology also involves exposing our youth to cyber-crime.”(Maheu, 1999:5)
Even though governments are always trying to prevent the next occuring problem with technology, there almost always is away around it!

To summarise cybersex allows adults using internet resources to explore sexual identities and experiences. Being affordable and easily accessible and the fact that you are basically anonymous is a strong point to end users. However it allows deception, child pornography and even infidelity and should not always be considered as a way to escape reality!

eExtremists

2008-05-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

eCulture this week has a new tutor and lecturer and has given a better perspective on what needs to be written and constructed for the weekly blogs. This week, i'll be discussing extremism.

Extremism is characterized by dogmatic intolerance, expressed mildly or violently, and inclines toward an inflexible obedience to an accepted authority, shaped by a common ideology or sense of group unity (Gardner, 1997).

Many issuies drive extremists, such as Racial Purity, Anti Liberal and anti Government movements. Basically anything that goes against the norm in society.

The internet is used in many ways to spread certain message about extremist groups and helps recruit new members.

A quote which I thought was important to include was that:

“Extremist groups were among the very early users of electronic communication network that eventually evolved into the Internet. For example, Tom Metzger, the leader of the White Aryan Resistance, created a computer bulletin board. Since then these groups have been very active” (Gerstenfeld, Grant and Chiang, 2003:1).

Most extremist web sites include multimedia content, chat features and links to other assoicated websites.

An example of a current eExtremist group using internet resources is the Aryan Nations. The Aryan Nations are dedicated extremists to Racial Purity. The website allows users to sign up, contact and chat to other registered users and administrators. It also promotes other webites and provides activist tips to encourage readers to take their stance on racial purity.
Please see the website below for more details:
http://www.aryan-nations.org/

Another internet method used by extremists is the internets cyberspace online chatting and messaging enviroment. A great way too attract and advertise to new members!

This has however posed a significant threat to children gaining access to these sites and making a decision on what they read due to not having the experience needed to make a researched or knowledgeable decision.

I think its important for the parents of the children to teach them media literacy and critical thinking rather then relying on filtering software and firewalls to block certain websites!

It is also important to mention that the government and internet filtering organisations will always find it hard to govern the world wide web. One of the major reasons for this is the difficulty of finding the location of the hosting website and identifying and charging the owner of the website. In contrast, traditional advertising methods such as the TV and radio can be easily governed and prevented. The internet really has given extremist groups a great, easy and effective way to communicate, advertise and to attract new members!

Media, Marketing and Culture Jamming

2008-04-21T22:50:00.001-07:00

A difficult topic to come to terms with but I think I have an overall perspective on the issue and have gained a strong perspective on culture jamming and how we as a society need a voice against the common capitalist ways!

The media and overall product and service market play a major part in Culture Jamming and accepting today’s capitalist environment. The TV and radio are constant communication mediums that use advertising as their primary revenue model.

What does this mean? Well in simple terms....more adds!

Foxtel, which is suppose to be add free as the consumer pays a monthly fee, are advertising on their local stations. Who would ever have thought that a subscription based service would eventually turn to advertising for more revenue........ Unbelievable!

The definition of culture jamming is the act of transforming existing mass media to produce commentary about itself, using the original medium's communication . Basically using the communications medium and expressing anti-capitalist or views that the organisations that run the medium do not agree with. As seen in the example below!

I found the Nike "shoe they wouldn't sell" case very interesting, the fact that they would allow customisation of a shoe but not allow the phrase "Sweatshop" which does not break any of the rules specified by Nike to create. It obviously shows that Nike has a lot to hide and are not willing to show the public that some of their products are produced in sweatshops.
Basically using Nike’s communication medium to state the obvious. I love it!

Adbusters are well known for their culture jamming campaigns and their popular magazine which generally shows the opposite to what you read in newspapers or see on TV. Adbusters currently have a lawsuit against many TV corporations due to not allowing Adbusters to advertise. This is a perfect example of how communication medium owners refuse to allow programs or advertisements they make inflict their organisation and financial position

Lastly, I must mention feminist culture jamming because I feel strongly about this point.
Commercials, TV shows and movies always seem to exploit the female body, knowing that this will attract the masculine gender and most likely keep then attentive and active. One that I found quite funny was how a billboard showing a female in lingerie caused several accidents! How could they allow the billboard to go up in the first place? Quite simple...Money! Think about how much the company advertising billboard just made! Coperate and capitalist greed.

To conclude, I think free speech and advertising through any communication mediums should be allowed and should be government controlled via societies opinions. Just because they are privately owned does not mean we as a society have no say on what and what cannot be shown! Because in the end, we are a democratic society aren’t we?
/End of rant

Overall Review On Gaming

2008-04-07T03:14:00.000-07:00

Gaming has been around for many generations, I will be discussing how gaming is viewed in our society, the effects of gaming and the target audience.

Computer Games have been apart of my life since the age of eight. The first console I played was the Atari. From that point on, I have always been a fan of computer games, but I will admit I was oblivious to its effects.

Gaming is targeted at the younger generation. The baby boomers of our society generally have a negative view on youths playing games and often see them as 'socially' negative. Of course I disagree, games in my point of view is a away to escape into a posmordism environment. To sometimes escape life’s everyday problems and responsibilities and of course to have a bit of fun!

However I do agree that playing voilent games and watching aggressive movies can effect the viewer and can generally bring on aggressive behavior that may not have existed if that media wasn’t viewed. I know from a personal experience when I used to play games when I was younger I was generally aggressive if I couldn't beat that certain level or if I watched a Van Damn movie.

Studies from various websites such as: http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=H7LYpKnnCdyJsrNWbL1H2mGkL1Y55T6WcGgTmTqvtySpfkj1SYS2!-2107061068?docId=5001244015
have concluded that gaming has effects on the younger generation and creates an "own sex favoritism"

Gaming is definitely gender based, most games targeting the mail or masculine culture. Some of the reasons are as follows:

Stereotypical representations of females
Lack of female game characters
Patriarchal

The characters in general always seem to be targeted to the mail gender. For example Lara Croft being the male fantasy and typical damsel in distress situations (Always being the female that needs to rescued...example: Mario rescuing the Princess)

Today’s gaming generation is changing, enabling online play and customability to allow the individuals to create their own characters online. This is bringing the female gender into the gaming world because it is now involving a sense of creativity and personality rather then just clicking buttons. I think more females are now coming to terms that the gaming world might be changing its stereotypical stance and now focusing on both the male and female gender!

About Myself and Introduction to Blogging

2008-03-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

I thought for the first post, it would be most appropriate to introduce myself, my interests, future goals and what my overall understand of blogging is.

Being one of my first blog attempts, most likely it won't make any sense...but here goes!

My name is James and I am studying I.T and Software Engineering at Swinburne Lilydale.

Computers have always been my thing, the moment I could understand how to use a mouse I was mucking around and most likely causing damage to any PC I could get my hands on.

After completing High School, I choose to complete an IT Degree.

I have chosen media subjects as electives as I enjoy the overall field of media. I also find it a bit easier to study and find that it requires less work then some of the business subjects offered!

I took 6 to 12 months off last year to do IBL. Difficult at first, once you become used to working in the corporate environment 5 days a week it is rather hard to back to the studying university life. If I can make a recommendation....do IBL!!!

When I finished IBL I applied for another position and because of my experience in the field, I was granted the job in 2 days!

Currently I am still working in that same job as an IT Consultant while studying at university….. It’s a hard life! But all is coming to an end and I will be a graduate at the end of the year!! (About Time)

Now onto what the term blogging means me:

In the last tutorial we talked about blogging. My understanding of blogging is that it is a log of data that contains images, text, objects and data which are arranged as requested by the user, normally from the latest post to the first post in a user requested web browser such as Internet Explorer or Mesilla.

Blogs can contain any data but mainly contain a title, description of the blog, and an overall link. The great thing about blogging is, the blogger can write about and include almost anything ranging from pictures to videos to text about whatever topic they like which can span from world news to personal issues to product reviews.

Bloggers normally create entires on a range of topics. Typical are blogs on current affairs which can be seen on the www.news.com.au website. When an article is written by a journalist, their is an option to submit your view on the topic. This has become a very strong point for eBusiness because it allows the public to have their say!

Hyper linking from blog to blog is also very popular and is often used to bring together all the bloggers. This is what is known as the "Blogosphere"; basically referring to community of all bloggers.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my half hearted attempt at blogging and just for all of your entertainment and eCulture requirements, I will be posting another on weekly basis!