To infinity…and beyond!

This week’s topic had me looking towards the future. The conclusion that i have come up with after looking at the readings is that we are really not that far from the future at all. Technology has rapidly caught up with us and is now tailored to suit our every need. I want to focus on ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence because i believe that they are a present day reality that will be perfected and heavily used in the future.

 

Ubiquitous computing, which is a form of human-computer interaction is deeply entrenched and integrated into our everyday lives without us even knowing it and is heavily reliant on wireless forms of technology. If i walked around campus carrying a massive computer monitor, keyboard and mouse i’m pretty sure i would stick out like a sore thumb. However, there’s nothing out of the ordinary for uni students to take their laptops around with them. This is because ubiquitous computing also relies on mobility. This is how it fits into our lives so easily. Devices that are able to move around with you are the ones you don’t even notice you’re using. There’s nothing inconvenient about taking your phone with you and each app is made to seamlessly work with you throughout your day.

 

Furthermore, ambient intelligence is characterised by technology that is context aware, personalised and anticipatory. This means that these devices can recognize you and your situational context, can cater to your preferences and can even anticipate what you want without any given knowledge (Zelkha & Epstein 1998; Aarts, Harwig & Schuurmans 2001).

 

Although it sounds super freaky and something out of a ‘Blade Runner-esque’ dystopian universe, ambient intelligent environments are actually pretty normal in our everyday lives. Context aware technologies are essentially location aware devices. My mobile phone is location aware. It integrates GPS information into a majority of my apps in order to tailor information to my whereabouts. 

 

An example of personalised technology is the homepage of Safari on my Macbook. On opening, 9 of my most accessed sites are presented in order for me to quickly engage with my favourite sites. It is there for my convenience and is constantly changing depending on how many times i visit a site. Furthermore, changing the ringtone on your phone or the desktop background of your computer are all ways to personalise your media and make you feel connected to these technologies. 

 

The most interesting aspect of ambient intelligence is definitely anticipatory technologies. These devices make decisions based on expectations and predictions. For example, an iPad app called MindMeld is a group audio or video conferencing application that listens to what you say and begins surfacing information based on what you are discussing. This device is ultimately the way of the future as we need technology to help us comb through the complexities of the expanding online world. 

 

I fully believe that we have only scratched the surface with ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence, and technology will be so personalised that it will not only flow easily with our lives, but become a basic necessity of our existence in order to carry out every day activities. 

 

Then again, i can already see that some devices have become so intertwined into some of our lives that we probably wouldn’t be able to live without it today in 2013, let alone the future.

 

 

Hauntology

 

References:

 

Anon. (n.d.) ‘Ubiquitous Computing’ Wikipedia < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitous_computing >

Zelkha, Eli; Epstein, Brian; Birrell, Simon; Dodsworth, Clark (1998), “From Devices to “Ambient Intelligence””, Digital Living Room Conference (June 1998)

 

Gigaom/Om Malik. 2012. New app MindMeld heralds the era of anticipatory computing. [ONLINE] Available at: http://gigaom.com/2012/09/11/new-app-mindmeld-heralds-the-era-of-anticipatory-computing/. [Accessed 01 May 13]

 

 

Ignorance is bliss

This week focuses on media and the government, however i would like to focus on Lawrence Lessig’s article on transparency.

Lessig (2007) brings forth the notion of transparency or ‘naked transparency’ which he notes as the liberation of data, particularly government data, so as to ‘enable the public to process it and understand it better, or at least differently’.

 

‘To understand something–an essay, an argument, a proof of innocence– requires a certain amount of attention.’ Lessig (2007) argues that an average person wouldn’t really give enough of their attention to actually understand these issues, which could ultimately lead to misunderstandings. Theres a big window of opportunity for individuals to completely misinterpret distributed information or to prioritise their time on an issue and ignore another. Furthermore, Lessig notes that ‘the ignorance here is rational, not pathological.’

 

Additionally, he notes that pursuing ‘naked transparency’ may lead to loss of faith in the government from society as it does not take into account ‘the full complexity of the idea of perfect openness’ (Lessig 2007). I can see why Lessig is wary of ‘naked transparency’ in the real world because it is obvious how full disclosure from governments could lead to misunderstandings and conflict between the state and society. 

Full disclosure is also not fair because it still disadvantages individuals in society that may not be as educated as others. This makes more opportunities for individuals in society to take advantage of others and use the information to their own advantage.

It’s a noble notion that has good intentions however, the risk of possible misinterpretations or information being accessed by the wrong people is too high.  It could ultimately lead to conflicts or may impede the governments ability to carry out their duties.

 

Transversally

Reference:

 Lessig, Lawrence (2010) ‘Against Transparency: The perils of openness in government.’, < http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/against-transparency?page=0,0 >

Data

Andrew Murphy (2006) argues that media is constantly changing and evolving and can never really be defined. This works into the idea of transversality as it is the way lines intersect and cut each other and create new fields or frames. This is interesting when looking at the music industry, which has had to uproot previous forms of distribution and deal with a digital framework of which consumers have become accustomed too. With individuals turning to online methods of accessing music, both legal and illegal, it has forced the music industry to evolve and focus on how to cater to consumers and new media.

 

I believe it is actually beneficial to the artist and the industry because an individual will usually download illegal music because it is free and they have nothing to lose. If this music wasn’t free, they might not bother buying it and therefore the artist wouldn’t gain as much popularity. A study by The Institue for Prospective Technological Studies, a part of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre showed that illegal downloading actually had a positive effect of music sales. They noted that music downloaded illegally would not have been purchased if these illegal downloading websites weren’t available.

 

The positive side of the online world is that anything can become viral. These days, artists are judged on the amount of Youtube views they have rather than the amount of CD’s they’ve sold. It’s completely free for users AND it’s an effective way to boost the artist’s online virality and subsequent popularity. Sites like Spotify are a great response (not answer) to illegal downloading because it is relatively cheap, the artist and record company still get a portion of the money and it’s a great way for users to share the music they like and to be introduced to artists they may not have heard of before, essentially being free advertising for the artist.

These forms of new media can ultimately lead to product endorsement deals and tours. U2 grossed over $736 million in 2009 to 2011 from their world tour alone. Madonnas MDNA tour grossed $4.3 million just on the opening night and the whole tour raked in an estimated $75 million just through merchandise sales. By looking at these numbers, I wouldn’t really say that the music industry is crumbling yet.

Yes, record sales may be lower than they used to be but this by no means reflects the popularity of the artist or the record company. It just means that society has become accustomed to listening to music online. The music industry has to shut up and get used to media transversality because it is an industry that is constantly evolving and changing.

I can’t even remember the last time i bought a CD. (‘Kiss Kiss’ – Holly Valance.)

 

 

References:

Murphie, Andrew (2006) ‘Editorial’, [on transversality], the Fibreculture Journal, 9 < http://nine.fibreculturejournal.org/ >

Torrent Freak. 2013. Online Music Piracy Doesn’t Hurt Sales, European Commission Finds. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.diigo.com/bookmark/https%3A%2F%2Ftorrentfreak.com%2Fonline-piracy-is-not-hurting-music-revenues-european-commission-finds-130318%2F?tab=people&uname=andersand. [Accessed 11 April 13]

Keeping track of Week 6

I found this weeks article by Gary Wolf very interesting. So interesting that i’ve decided to focus this whole blog on it. I think i liked it the most because i can relate to it myself. So settle down and let me try to apply my own life story to his article on self-tracking.

About two weeks ago my doctor told me to have a Holter monitor (a machine that continuously records the heart’s rhythms over 24 hours). The results came back and showed that my heart paused 10 times within the day. That night i googled the meaning of these results and quickly came to the conclusion that i was suffering from a fatal heart block and would ultimately die from a cardiac arrest at any given point.  Within the 5 days of googling my imminent death and seeing a heart specialist, i found that i suffered from constant heart cramps, shortness of breath and heart palpitations. I felt extremely unwell and weak. However, after visiting a heart specialist and finding out almost everything i was experience was relatively normal, all the symptoms completely vanished. I felt completely normal and it was like any pain suddenly went away.

Was the pain i was experiencing even real? Was it completely normal but exaggerated in my brain because i thought there was something wrong? This is similar to the experiment carried out by neuroeconomist, Baba Shiv. A group supplied with an energy drink who payed full price for it felt more alert and energetic than the group who bought the drinks at a discounted price. They believed that the drinks were not as strong even though the drinks were identical and therefore did not stay as alert as the other team. This enforces the idea that our brains are extremely gullible and that it is much more powerful than we think. We can literally believe anything and it may actually take a physical toll on our bodies.

In this case, i would agree with Wolf that sometimes self-tracking can be detrimental to your health rather than beneficial. My brain convinced my body that i was ill and so my body felt ill.

Individuals don’t care about good news. we only focus on the negative aspects of each situations because we constantly want to better ourselves and right our wrongs or look for a way to fix it. This is why i thought i was going to die for about 5 days. Even though there were hundreds of articles that said that i was completely normal and would be fine, i fixated on the handful of websites that convinced me that i was dying. Would i have felt fine if i hadn’t bothered to google my results? I’ll never know.

What i do know, or what i have learnt from Wolfs article, is that i self-track a lot, especially in regards to my health and fitness routine. I keep a food diary, i track my body fat percentage and weight, the amount of calories i eat, my heart rate when exercising through a band that sits under my chest and i even have a diary dedicated to the amount of television shows i have ever watched completely or am up to date on (53 and counting). However, i have also learnt that this information doesn’t really make sense to me. What’s the point of self-tracking if you don’t know what the results even mean once collated? I have a bunch of information at my finger tips but i really don’t use it because i don’t know how to. Essentially, all the self-tracking i do is pretty much useless and is used as a way to self-reflect rather than collate and study.

Seems like a major waste of time to me.

Augmented

Reference:

Wolf, Gary (2010) ‘The Data-Driven Life’, The New York Times, <  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/magazine/02self-measurement-t.html >

EyeToy- My first foray into an Augmented Reality

 

 

One night, 10 years ago my dad came home with the coolest toy ever. Way cooler than a normal PlayStation 2 game. It was an EyeToy and it was my first foray into an augmented reality.

I had never heard of an interactive game and couldn’t believe that a small camera could pick up our body movements and move characters and shapes accordingly within the TV. I would spend hours washing windows, playing ping pong and karate chopping ninjas as they tried to kick me.

When i look back on it now, i think of how shitty the graphics are, and how weak the motion sensors really were (i would cheat and “wash the windows” with a large pillow instead of my hands). Despite this, it introduced me to a virtual world which became highly addictive and put 2D forms of entertainment to shame.

I can honestly say that i have followed this augmented reality trend since that fateful night in 2003 as new forms of media have been created and evolved. I bought a Wii the second it came out and all the televisions in our house are 3D capable.

I believe that new forms of media are creating virtual worlds but i also believe that these virtual worlds are constantly being improved in order to take a more realistic form. The cartoonist nature of the EyeToy has been improved so much that now virtual worlds mesh with reality so easily that you don’t even notice it.

For example, i don’t even register that there is anything weird about having the scores of a game written on the screen throughout a match. Not only is it not weird, but it is expected and necessary for keeping updated with the score. If i was watching a match and there were no scores on the screen, i would be extremely confused and feel very disoriented. This is because it has become reality rather than digital or feel out of place.

As we spend more and more time in virtual space, there will be a gradual “migration to virtual space”, resulting in important changes in economics, worldview, and culture. (Castranova 2007)

I believe that what Castranova is saying is true however i think that he probably didn’t expect it to be a reality so soon. Everything is now virtual – from social media, to banking to even getting insurance for your car (Progressive Car Insurance- which is completely online. It’s called progressive for a reason.) We’re so used to virtual worlds that these augmented realities aren’t really shocking us as much as they used to. I had a mini coronary with the EyeToy. i was mildly impressed with google googles.

 

 

Experience

 

 

– Castranova, E. (2007). Exodus to the Virtual World: How online fun is changing reality. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

I’m a slave to autocorrect

I found this weeks reading particularly interesting (once you got past the fancy vocabulary and all the confusing mumbo jumbo). I think i found it interesting because i find the idea of technologically assisted brain function and memory to be all too true, and i’ll tell you why.

Stiegler notes that “cognitive technologies, to which we confide a greater and greater part of our memory, cause us to lose an ever-greater part of our knowledge.”

Let’s dissect this a bit. What’s a cognitive technology? Robot’s right? That’s what i think of when those words come to mind. However, could it be everyday things that we use that are “cognitive”? Could it be argued that my Facebook account and phone have minds of their own that are branches of my own mind?

These technologies are helping and hindering us in terms of our memory. It can be argued that we don’t bother trying to remember facts or dates etc. anymore because we know that these cognitive technologies will help us when we forget! I don’t even bother remembering people’s birthdays anymore cause i know Facebook will come to my rescue and help me keep my friends! What’s my best friends number? pft, you expect me to remember that? Where am i going to be in 2 weeks? I don’t know but i’m sure my iPhone’s calendar could tell you.

These technologies are helping us retain our memory’s without even really retaining it in the first place. We have this peace of mind cause we know that we don’t have to strain our brains and try to remember how to get to Bondi or what last weeks lecture was about. We think of something, type it up or write it down and then we can forget about it because we have a lasting memory to help us remember when we don’t. Except when you break your phone or lose your day planner. Then you’re screwed. Anarchy ensued.

On the other side, Stiegler is arguing that we are hindering our memory more than helping it.

Think about all the words we don’t bother knowing how to spell cause we know that autocorrect will make us not sound like complete imbeciles. I promise that if one day, all the computers in the world spontaneously combusted not one single person would know how to spell definitely (that’s a tricky one, i’ll admit).

I think what Stiegler is trying to say is that we are gradually losing our brain function as a result of not training our brains to remember anymore. We don’t bother conditioning our memory and we have become too accustomed to sweeping memories under the rug and retrieving them when needed, with most knowledge being kept in these “cognitive technologies”. You could say my phone is more human and real than i am.

Meta Communication

me•di•a E•col•o•gy

I find myself sitting here not knowing how to start off this blog post. This may be due to the fact that i’m sitting in a noisy library not able to concentrate or because i seriously have no idea what i’m about to talk about. So prepare yourself.

Media Ecology, as i understand it, defines the notion that media is in itself an environment that we immerse ourselves and dictates our social affairs. I struggled to differentiate this with technological determinism and after Wikipedia-ing it, i became even more confused to find that there are so many different definitions of this theory in European and North American contexts.

One way i can understand this theory is by focusing it around my own experiences and media environment. Postman argues that we are slaves to technology and this couldn’t be more true. I’ll even go far enough to say that it should be a basic human right to own an iPhone. #firstworldproblems.

The only way to realise how dependant we are on technology is to have it taken away from us. I think about how difficult my day would be without my iPhone to wake me up in the morning, alert me of important news, help me connect with my friends and family, tell me the time and navigate me through cities. I’d literally be lost without it. This one form of media has completely taken over how i start my day to how i end it. It is indeed an environment that has become inescapable and imperative in order to basically function on a day to day basis.

It’s really easy in this way to see how machinic our environment has become. As i sit here in this library, i see almost every person with their eyes glued to their laptop screens, their fingers tapping away rapidly. They almost look like brainwashed machinic robots completely immersed in their environment, not even noticing the hundreds of books that surround them.

 

Reference:

Media Ecology Association, What is Media Ecology 2009, accessed 19 March 2013, < http://www.media-ecology.org/media_ecology/ >.

Events

Technological determinism is the ‘belief that technology is the agent of social change’ (Murphie & Potts, 2003, p.11). Advancements in technology are so fast and fleeting that as a society, we have been backed into a corner. If you’re not up to speed with the latest techno craze then bad luck!

Furthermore, Marshall McLuhan stated that ‘the cultural significance of media lies not in their content, but in the way they alter our perception of the world’ (Murphie & Potts, 2003, p. 13). This means that we have learnt how to cater our lives to the presence of technology and adapt in ways that can fit technology comfortably into our lives. The fact that i have my weekdays dictated by what tv show is on that day just highlights the fact that i am completely passive when it comes to the power of technology. Technology must also learn to adapt too. The never-ending progress in mediums means that, for example, television and radio are being overshadowed by the internet and smartphones. A television is no longer complete if it is not a ‘Smart TV’ fully equipped with Skype, YouTube and internet browsing.

These changes in technology are notable events that have occurred for many years. Friedrich Kittler stated that ‘it is we who adapt to the machine.’ Whether its the change from radio to television or Myspace to Facebook, they are all equally important events that mark periods in time when society adapted.

References:

Andrew Murphie -Lecture 1

Jeffries, Stuart (2011) ‘Friedrich Kittler and the rise of the machine’, The Guardian, December 28, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/28/friedrich-kittler-rise-of-the-machine &gt;