TuteSpark + Tute Task Week 9 Research

6. Increasingly mobile devices are an aid to the gathering and reporting of information, both by professional journalists and “citizen journalists”. Outline the advantages and disadvantages of this sort of news gathering. How might it impact on journalistic practices and news values and ethics?


Initial thought about this topic;
Find it interesting to write about as I have been a bit in touch with it, in regards to the cultural jamming and making "false" reports on websites. NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT MOBILE DEVICES I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT - MOBILE, LAPTOP...ETC. PLUS, WHAT IS A CITIZEN JOURNALIST? NEED DEFINITIONS! FIND OUT IS YOU ARE GOING TO FOCUS ON TRADITIONAL NEWS - NEWSPAPER ETC OR MEDIA NEWS. last paragraphs on impact in news story. CHOOSE A FEW KEY ADVANTAGE/DISADVANTAGES and write how they work for and against - back up with research, "this guy says it is good and why- this guy says it is bad and why". This whole thing is my research so far! Job well done, I must admit!

Another trend in the media sphere has been the growth in the role of the 'media citizen'. This is part of the blurring of roles between consumer and producer that the internet provides. Media outlets everywhere now openly call on readers, viewers and listeners to contribute words, images and footage. Media Giant CNN has the easy address of 'ireport.com', through which viewers can contribute material. This provides important supplementary updates to CNN's 24-hour-a-day news service. For example, during a spate of major tornadoes in Oklahoma in the United States, sensational footage was supplied by a citizen reporter, allowing the network to broadcast this almost as the twister occurred (CNN news, 23 May 2008). - Johnston J., & Zawawi C., Public Relations, Theory and Practice 3rd Edition, p. 240-241.


Citizen journalist:
Journalist and media commentator Mark Glaser gives a very good definition of citizen journalism on the Public Broadcasting Service website MediaShift. To paraphrase, he describes the citizen journalist as a person, with no real journalism training, who uses modern technology to create news stories and then distributes them over the internet. In order to understand the power that the average Joe now has to make news we need to think about the tools of the journalist. In order to produce news you need two things: 
(1) a method of recording and producing information (either in a text, video, image or audio format), and 
(2) a method of getting that info to the public


Citizen journalist is not out to cover something, but to share it. 

Advantages

• The availability of news and current streaming of it as it is happening; 

For example, during a spate of major tornadoes in Oklahoma in the United States, sensational footage was supplied by a citizen reporter on ireport.com, allowing the network to broadcast this almost as the twister occurred (CNN news, 23 May 2008). When discussing CNN and their ireport.com website, they do include a warning of how none of the news you are about to read or see has been looked at or authorized by CNN, except the ones with a CNN stamp on it. Therefore the reader is already warned that not everything is necessarily true. 


In fact, when big events happen, such as the July 7 London bombings, much of the footage which the media outlets have is from citizen journalists because, by their very nature, they are first on the scene. Most media outlets, including the BBC, now ask for people to send in footage and photos of events or small write ups of anything they may have seen. http://www.responsiblecitizen.co.uk/citizenship-journalism.html


News stations, or whoever that receives the citizen journalists findings are more than thankful to citizen journalists as many people would not know what the smoke was looked like close to the Twin Tower buildings on 9/11/2001, what the tunnels looked like after the London bombings or what damage that was caused from the tsunami in Thailand. This is because news stations or CNN (whoever) cannot send their own TV crew or journalists to the locations because of the amount of danger they are putting their employees in. 

• News as a partnership

It could be said that today news provided from both citizen journalists and professional journalists collaborate on what will be distributed to the public. 

• Touched on stories that are taboo, often written/ spoken/ filmed with human interest 

This can be seen as journalists often want to highlight a subject, but are prohibited by either the ethical framework or simply what they are allowed to report on. The citizen journalist can shed some light on the subject with a personal point of view (something professional journalists are prohibited by). 

• Shared views on the internet

This could work for or against, as too many views create a clash, meanwhile personal views also add the human interest factor and novelist. 

Disadvantages

• The credibility of the news

This could be said as the news could be hard to verify, the citizen journalist has not followed the ethical rules a professional journalist follows and the citizen journalist is not a professional writer, therefore the content might seem poorly written or hard to understand. Citizen journalists often write as they talk, which can affect their credibility's negatively. 

This could also be looked at in a positive way as the back up from photos or footage from the citizen journalist can verify their story and be directly distributed to the public. 

This type of citizen journalism includes some comment as well – often far more outspoken than that which you would find on an open page in a newspaper. This can be good because there are fewer reservations but also bad because there is so much more room for them to offend and spout ill informed views. http://www.responsiblecitizen.co.uk/citizenship-journalism.html

Advantages & Disadvantages that work together and against each other

• The credibility of the news

This could be said as the news could be hard to verify, the citizen journalist has not followed the ethical rules a professional journalist follows and the citizen journalist is not a professional writer, therefore the content might seem poorly written or hard to understand. Citizen journalists often write as they talk, which can affect their credibility's negatively. 

This could also be looked at in a positive way as the back up from photos or footage from the citizen journalist can verify their story and be directly distributed to the public. 

This type of citizen journalism includes some comment as well – often far more outspoken than that which you would find on an open page in a newspaper. This can be good because there are fewer reservations but also bad because there is so much more room for them to offend and spout ill informed views. http://www.responsiblecitizen.co.uk/citizenship-journalism.html

• The availability of news and current streaming of it as it is happening; 

For example, during a spate of major tornadoes in Oklahoma in the United States, sensational footage was supplied by a citizen reporter on ireport.com, allowing the network to broadcast this almost as the twister occurred (CNN news, 23 May 2008). When discussing CNN and their ireport.com website, they do include a warning of how none of the news you are about to read or see has been looked at or authorized by CNN, except the ones with a CNN stamp on it. Therefore the reader is already warned that not everything is necessarily true. 

In fact, when big events happen, such as the July 7 London bombings, much of the footage which the media outlets have is from citizen journalists because, by their very nature, they are first on the scene. Most media outlets, including the BBC, now ask for people to send in footage and photos of events or small write ups of anything they may have seen. http://www.responsiblecitizen.co.uk/citizenship-journalism.html

Resources;

http://snurb.info/node/1360

http://snurb.info/taxonomy/term/1
http://www.labnol.org/internet/blogging/will-citizen-journalists-replace-the-professional-journalist/1611/ (use this link!!!)
http://www.actnow.com.au/Opinion/The_Rise_of_the_Citizen_Journalist.aspx
http://ireport.cnn.com/
http://www.responsiblecitizen.co.uk/citizenship-journalism.html


Scholarly sources:
Johnston J., & Zawawi C., Public Relations, Theory and Practice 3rd Edition, p. 240-241.
http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=100542
http://opendepot.org/134/1/thurman_forums.pdf

Lecture - Week 9

Let me start of by saying the lecturer is quite intense and very passionate about what he is talking about, which is not a bad thing as I found him interesting and listened to what he had to say.

This weeks topic was about Cyberpunk, with the last lecture's focus on William Gibson and his works.

Cyberpunk;
Broke it down into how it is gritty, a bit dark, how one can hide in shadows and it is safe (not dangerous).

• Hard-boiled detective fiction 
• Film noir
• Science fiction/SF 
• Literary postmodernism

He from here went on talking specifically about each point, meaning:

Hard-boiled detective fiction: often uses this technique in Cyberpunk - crime that needs to be resolved

Film noir: atmosphere in Cyberpunk echoes stylish Hollywood crime dramas

Science fiction/SF: Fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals

Literary postmodernism: Human experience as unstable

When he started talking about William Gibson, he gave the basic outline of his life and how it was important that when he got his degree, bachelor in English, everything changed as he had now acquired a new type of English (with that I mean, he now read different literature and gained a new way of writing - professional typing). Then he talked a bit about some of Gibson's work, such as Neuromancer (which he showed a video of Bono citing Gibson's work)Virtual Light and Pattern Recognition. 

Sources:

https://learning.secure.griffith.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_87375_1&frame=top

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk

http://www.answers.com/topic/science-fiction
http://vc.ws.edu/engl2265/unit4/Modernism/all.htm

Week 8 - Tute Task & TuteSpark

FUSION OF MAN AND MACHINE:

"Cyborg" is a science-fictional shorting of "cybernetic organisms". By talking more about what was written on The_Tutespark_Repository - fusion between human and robot, we could also add that there is an idea that in the near future humans will have more artificial body 
parts. This can be seen now, in 2010, with the world's first successful fake heart, although not entirely a permanent solution, it gives the patient time to function until a heart is found. The idea with a mix between human and robot will more certainly mean that most body parts will function with digital computing and communication supplements. Perhaps even in the end the only thing that will not be artificial will be your brain... until they find a way to replace that of course! 


The current news story that reflects my research can be seen with the example of the mechanical (fake) heart transplant. 

Artificial heart transplant first         

           

16 August 2010 | 07:41:15 PM | Source: AAP

A 50-year-old from the Sydney suburb of Fairfield has had surgery to implant a mechanical heart, making him the southern hemisphere's first recipient of the breakthrough technology.

Angelo Tigano is living proof you can remove a man's heart, but he'll still love his mum's cooking.

  

Speaking to reporters at a press event in St Vincent's Hospital on Monday, Mr Tigano said he was "feeling great" and looking forward to some home cooking.

  

"Just going home and getting back to my own environment," Mr Tigano said when asked what he missed most.

  

"... we'll get together at mum's place for pasta, we'll make sure we do that."

  

Mr Tigano has lived with a degenerative heart condition for more than ten years and, before his successful surgery, was expected to live for only two more weeks.

  

His new SynCardia Systems temporary Total Artificial Heart grants him several more years in which a suitable donor heart must be found.

  

It has replaced his failing heart, and is now pumping up to 9.5 litres of blood per minute through his body.

  

The device is connected by cables to an external, and slightly noisy, pump and power supply that can be either mounted on a trolley or in a backpack.

  

Dr Phillip Spratt, head of the hospital's heart transplant unit, said it was a significant advance on conventional heart pumps.

  

"It means we take the whole heart out and put this artificial heart in and the patients get better a whole lot quicker," he said.

  

"You can see looking at Angelo, this was a man who was nearly dead two weeks ago."

  

Dr Spratt said the new mechanical heart was "not a permanent solution, it's a bridge to transplantation" and such technologies allowed more patients to survive the nine to 12 month waiting list for a donor heart.

  

Australia has one of the world's lowest rates of organ donation and there were 82 heart transplants undertaken in 2008, followed by just 60 last year.

  

"Obviously we need more organ donation and we hope the organ donate programs the federal government put in place will improve that situation," Dr Spratt said.

  

"But our patients are so sick when they come to us that we will always require some form of mechanical support."

  

The $120,000 cost of Mr Tigano's mechanical heart was covered by benefactors of St Vincent's Hospital, and Dr Spratt said talks were underway to secure government funding.

   

Mr Tigano is just one of the 1,700 Australians now on an organ donor waiting list and, in the meantime, he is coming to terms with his new pneumatic heartbeat and lease on life.

  

"It is unusual because of the noise and there is a clicking in your chest which is the pump that keeps going," Mr Tigano said.

  

"There's a few different things to get used to but other than that it's wonderful."

Here is now my version of the news story;

Artificial heart transplant first

17 September 2010 | 12:45 PM | Source: AAP

A 50-year-old from the Sydney suburb of Fairfield has had surgery to implant a mechanical heart, making him the southern hemisphere's first recipient of the breakthrough technology.

Angelo Tigano is living proof that we are emerging into robots and losing ourselves to electronics whilst still keeping our flesh and brain.

Natural-Born Cyborgs author, Andy Clark says, “cyborgs are very much a reality. The mind is just less and less in the head”.

While speaking to reporters in St Vincent’s Hospital on Monday, Mr Tigano said he was “feeling great” and that he didn’t feel changed at all.

“ I hardly feel like a robot, but let’s hope my wires don’t get mixed up,” he said humorously.

The device which has replaced Mr Tigano’s failing heart is now pumping up to 9.5 litres of blood per minute through his body. Although, he has only at the moment chosen to replace his real heart, Mr Tigano says he is considering replacing his veins with wires in order to make everything else run as smoothly after experiencing a blood clot two years ago.

Clark gives a passing nod to the negative consequences of an increasingly cyborg world-social alienation, information overload-but retains his essentially positive take on the "biotechnological merger" that is transforming so many people's lives.

“We must be careful as I feel we are losing our human nature, and that if people continue to choose mechanic body parts, we might all end up losing our humanity and robots will rule the world,” he said. 

Reference;
http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/cyborgs.html
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1328707/headline
http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2010/08/16/1225906/094219-angelo-tigano.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=8JXaK3sREXQC&dq=cyborgs&hl=en&ei=QtWSTLDjM4qlcdbt2dcG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA
http://www.springerlink.com/content/n8khf04j7f006718/

Culture Jamming Set Into Motion

Part II

We created our separate groups on facebook - me, being the anti-fat people on rail and Jordan pretending to be the person who wants equality. Caitlin made the website which is called Fat Pride; http://horizontalchallenge.blogspot.com/

My facebook group "No Fatties On Light Rail" - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=100379003358428&ref=ts

Jordan's facebook group "Equality On Gold Coast Light Rail" - http://www.facebook.com/search/flt=1&q=equality&o=69&s=30#!/group.php?gid=133344220045391&ref=search

Now we are going to just keep on adding friends and Caitlin will be posting new posts on the blog to create some discussion either on the blog or facebook in order to get attention and hopefully, create a debate. We will check back on what has been happening on Friday 17th of September to see if there has been any changes or debates.

Update Friday 17th September 2010; Interesting update from my facebook group. Seems as if most of the people who have added the fake person I am on facebook, is indeed from America or Canada.... However, let me add, we have gotten across our message as a few of the people have messaged me about the light rail although they are not in Australia, they are now informed about something that is not even real! Another interesting fact is that an Australian has added himself to my facebook group and therefore he is now informed about the fake reality of "no fatties on the light rail".

Update 24th September 2010; The update so far is nothing new on Caitlin's blog, another person added themselves to my group - although I can't seem to get anyone to start a conversation. Jordan has two Australians on his group, but no conversation there either.

Conclusion

• Is that we did not achieve our goal
• Although we did not achieve our goal, we did still inform four Australians (and perhaps more with the blog) about something completely made up. 
• funny enough something else that come out of it was that we informed Americans on a lie about something in Australia. 
• Our main problem was getting people interested in the groups and to talk about the "fake" issue, however, it was easy to befriend people

Week 7 Tutespark

Mozilla Firefox - the free software which I tried, and now I won't ever stop using it.

"Meet the world's best browser, made just the way you like it". 


I downloaded the software on Friday 10th of Spetember and have only been using that software instead of Google Chrome, which I normally use. This software is definitely to my liking, especially the personalized background theme. The design seems to be their big plus, as well as the 6 000 add-ons to help the user customize his or hers browser. Firefox might look a little more congested with all the panels, but it also looks more stylish and is still simple to navigate from website to website. Google Chrome is perhaps too simple, but then again, that would be the only fault. It is nice to try out something new, and I will probably stick to Firefox from now on as I just like it more than Google Chrome. It is definitely user friendly, secure, fast speed and best of all, it is free! 
I also felt the need to check out the awards that Mozilla Firefox has received - 

• PC Magazine Editors’ Choice Award, Jun 2009
• CNET Webware 100 winner, May 2009
• 2008 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards Browser of the Year, February 2009
• InfoWorld Best of Open Source Software Awards, August 2008
• PC Magazine Editors’ Choice, June 2008
• CNET Editors’ Choice, June 2008
• American Business Awards Most Innovative Company, June 2008
• Linux Journal Readers' Choice 2008 - Favorite Web Browser, May 2008
• This does, to be honest, help me in my decision to ditch Google Chrome for this magnificent browser. Let me just finish off by saying; I think I have found, as stated by Mozilla, the world's best browser!

Week 6 Tutespark

Leading on from the lecture on online privacy & social networking....

1. Who owns the content you put on the internet on various sites? This includes pictures, video, text, etc? Think about all the content you upload onto social networking sites - Do you own it? Who has the right to use your creations?

This all depends on the site as stated, for instance: facebook has a privacy sharing policy, so one can choose who can see what you have put on fb and who can not. This applies to who owns it, as there is a license agreement - such as when you remove your content and profile - that license expires and fb does not own your previous content. However, this can be further discussed as many argue that is not the case.

"Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, said in a blog post on Monday that the philosophy “that people own their information and control who they share it with has remained constant.” Despite the complaints, he did not indicate the language would be revised."

I believe when you put something on the internet, whatever it may be, you do not own it. Pictures from fb can be found under google images and blogs can easily be picked up from other places. Nothing is secure - which pretty much says what the internet is about. However, if you have a license, such as Creative Commons on your artwork or whatever else - then atleast you do own it if someone chooses to steal it, then you can sue them. Same goes for your fb pictures of course, but you never know if someone in for example Egypt has stolen your photo and made a profile using your picture on a fb-like site. This is why there are always warnings about sharing personal information on the internet, as it is never kept secure - unless of course it is online banking or other. All I know, is that on the internet you have to be cautious and safe. 

Resources; 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/technology/internet/17facebook.html 

Week 7 - Creative Commons

(Had a minor problem with the text - big gaps)

1. What is creative commons and how could this licensing framework be relevant to your own experience at university?

Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation who made a site which allows people to share their work and build upon the works of others, with the rules of copyright. They provide absolutely free licenses so that the creator still gets credit for his or hers work, but can share their work, remix it or use their work commercially. It is relevant to my own experience at university because it gives me the freedom to share my work with others and use others work with mine. Without the copyright or plagiarism issues.

2. Find 3 examples of works created by creative commons and embed them in your blog.

 The first example is taken from redbubble.com and the artist who created this artwork is; Natalie Perkins. This artwork has been made into t-shirts, greeting cards, matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints and posters. However, the license states that this work must not be built upon, altered or transformed.  

This is the second example - the art school monster, created by Kirsty Hall . This was found from google images and can be found on kirstyhall.co.uk.

The third and final example is of John Wood who decided to release all the music, cover art, promotional text, mix-stems, sheet-music, and lyrics under a CC license. Here you can of course see the cover art.

 

3. Find an academic article which discusses creative commons using a database or online journal. Provide a link to and a summary of the article.

"Information Resources: Creative Commons: An Opportunity to Extend the Public Domain"
Citation: Schloman, B. (October 2003). Information Resources Column: "Creative Commons: An Opportunity to Extend the Public Domain." Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Available: www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/InformationResources/CreativeCommonsAnOpportunitytoExtendthePublicDomain.aspx

Summary; The public domain—those property rights that belong to society at large without the restrictions of copyright—has been diminished by copyright legislation and a recent Supreme Court decision. Copyright law is intended to protect the rights of creators for a period of time, after which works pass into the public domain where others can freely use them. However, recent extensions of the length of time a copyright is in effect and the fact that all works are now automatically awarded protection when created serve to curtail what actually moves into the public domain. The result is that the balance between protecting the rights of creators and publishers and the needs of society to insure progress in the sciences and arts has been lost. Believing that many individual creators would not elect to have all the copyright provisions the law automatically bestows, the Creative Commons was founded to provide a legal mechanism for individuals to select the rights they wish to maintain and those that they are willing to cede to others. The goal is to make more information available to the public within a "creative commons" in a way that complements copyright law.

Link:
http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/InformationResources/CreativeCommonsAnOpportunitytoExtendthePublicDomain.aspx 

4. Have a look at Portable Apps (a pc based application) – provide a brief description of what it is and how you think this is useful.

An application which provides the luxury of having all your pc programs with you at all times. Such as emails, bookmarks and whatever else that is needed to be used on any pc, any time without leaving personal data behind. This is clearly useful as it is free and so convenient for anyone who needs their stuff with them at all times.  Not only that, but this program works with any software that the pc has installed or a hard drive, usb stick - you name it. 

Resources:

http://creativecommons.org/about/

http://www.redbubble.com/people/definatalie/art/1336482-2-i-loved-cupcakes-before-they-were-cool# 

http://kirstyhall.co.uk/2010/03/12/art-school-monster/

http://creativecommons.org/audio/

http://portableapps.com/

http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/InformationResources/CreativeCommonsAnOpportunitytoExtendthePublicDomain.aspx