1501art - what i thought of this course

well, i got to read william gibson, watch bladerunner & expound the hacker manifesto for credit points...

sounds like my ideal 1st year course - if i were 17 years old...

similar to information & communication technologies course i did @ gu mt gravatt 1styr primary ed. it was fun. i learned dreamweaver in that course. i now use dreamweaver for building websites.

what did i learn in this course?

i got to watch some footage by one debra beattie which struck a real chord in me. i too was around in that era, although toward the end of it and i saw how it ravaged and tore apart many of my families friends-families. i appreciate debra's approach and her tutes were always straight to business - 'here's what it is'.

i'm in my 30's and living by myself on the gold coast. working 2 jobs and trying to study full-time. sometimes i have to miss classes, but i always have my readings done by the end of the 4th week (i'm usually generally interested in reading and learning more about almost anything), and keep in contact with those who have attended when i've been absent, to catch up. i enjoyed this course because not only did it cover what i love but i could do it where and whenever i could manage.

being a digital communication course - is there any chance of getting streaming audio at very least of steven stockwells lectures for those unable to attend? i'm kicking myself i was unable to attend a number of his lectures because i really got personally involved with the subject matter and presentation of those i could.

6:56 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

excel; gaming; cybertherapy

excel

i have a problem with excel in that i have an extreme mathematical disfuntion. which was interesting when i had to learn oracle datawarehousing in order to work for sun microsystems as a data quality analyst.

i have difficulty following written instruction and prefer to aproach learning hands-on, trying to figure out for myself using my own logic-patterns how things work and what they do.

excel and even programs like quicken do my head in. my mind starts swirling like so much fondue and all logical thought slides into the goldfish bowl. hot keys  how many hot keys for how many different programmes dos a modern-girl need to learn? i use cubase i use madtracker i use ableton i use soundforge i use renoise i use dreamweaver i use word i use powerpoint i use outlook express i use msn messenger i use irc i use skype why do i need to learn more hotkeys? i can use excel to do what i need to do and that's enough, isn't it? i learned lotus 123 in my 1st ever admin role at age 17 and have had to use it or excel since. if i can't do something, i'll take a look at it, try a few things, look at the instructions - maybe - then ask someone. usually that gets the job done and i've now learned how to do that.


gaming

Janet H Murray - Ph.D

The Last Word on Narratology -v- Ludology in Game Studies

i had never considered games in such depth, besides the social and cultural perspective of games in general be they athletic, board, card or mind games... and have never had much time for people who spend their lives secreted away staring at the cathode glow as their right thumb sends someone to a fiery doom.

i guess this comes of growing up in a male sibling dominated household where atari consoles, pac-man machines, sit-down table machines and eventually pc games were almost  daily 'rituals'. my brothers and i would race home from school and change as quickly as we could in order to get 'across the shops' (the corner store across the road from my parents house) so we could play whatever arcade game the proprietor had installed. space invaders of course to begin then pacman and onto galaga and wonder boy. the proprietor would give my brothers and i specially marked coins to play against other children with - it was much later i discovered he and the butcher next door would place bets on us. later, various boyfriends with nintendo or playstation infatuations and bad skin went a long way to turning me from gaming. i prefer to read books. i get wobbly-legs when playing games which require me to immerse myself even partially.

cybertherapy

the abc has an interesting health feature on cybertherapy (sorry, but the word cyber makes me think of the cybermen on dr who - and i giggle, just a bit) -CYBERTHERAPY

i don't feel qualified to take a position on this issue. i have read some interesting opinions and statements, but i shudder at the word 'therapy'. too oft misued. i also shudder at various press releases masquerading as 'news item' ala as has often and recently been discussed on the abc's 'media watch'

i don't see a problem with cybertherapy is it works for some. it's not the messiah, but if it works for you - go for it.

6:29 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Week 9 Tutorial Task - PowerPoint

First thing I did was google 'powerpoint template free' to get a different template to those standardly offered in powerpoint.

Then it was just a matter of entering the data and effecting same...

We did this in first year Primary Education course 'Information & Communication Technologies'.

Done and done. Can't upload it here tho...

2:27 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Week 8 Tutorial Task - Microsoft Word

So i have to write a blog about my experience doing a tutorial task in Microsoft Word.

Well, what's to say?

I've been using Word since it first came out (hotkeys oh how i HATE hotkeys!!! Shift+Alt+P for print or just Shift+P? why can't i use a mouse?!?!?!?), and as a freelance Journo for the past 8 years, I guess it's either Word or Wordpad so whichever, I had no problems at all with this exercise until I got to Advanced Exercise 2: Mail Merge...

You instruct:

"4.You should type a new list, and then go to 'create'"

...wha?

i open the mail merge toolbar and there is no option for me to select 'create'. if i select the far left icon, it allows me to open a new mail merge... but what list are you talking about? a shopping list? a list of lovers lost and long-pined for?

...meh.

Bill gates can still go ride a bull for all i care for them man, and i'm certain if he hadn't patented/copywrighted/whatever'd Word, someone else would have come up with something...

1:40 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Week 6 Tutorial Task - Mobile Phone Cameras & Adobe Photoshop (WEEK 1)

FRIENDS

this shot taken @ museum station whilst in sydney visiting friends:




HIGH TECH

kitty-kat by cathode glow:




NEWS

"Pollution reaches all-time high"




SUMMER

view thru the portal of the straddie-flyer, on my way to our holiday home on stradbroke island:




UNCONVENTIONAL

view from an alley up: (i love taking photos of architecture; lines and angles etc)




UNIVERSITY LIFE

...i don't have one. so here's a photo i shot  thru the spyhole...



*** these photos taken using my mothers nikon digi-cam (no idea what model). i do not own a camera-phone as i refuse to subscribe to the marketing-ploys schemed by the telco's (working for a telco for many years has taught me many of the tricks they play including the fact that they make most of their money thru people sending countless stupid, pointless text messages and pictures)... explanations are in titles... succint is good.

1:11 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Digital Communication Technologies - ESSAY (Submission Copy)
Category: School, College, Greek

The advent of the Internet and digital communication technologies and their part in the globalisation of the activist ethos.

The Internet has the capability to enhance communications between individuals or groups. Internet correspondence is expeditious and explicit and essentially anonymous. It encourages the exchange of emotive discussions which are also global in coverage, encouraging input from individuals of varying expertise. Common groups interested in a particular topic can include people from cultures having dissimilar ideas of the acceptability, morality or legality of a given issue and provide scope for education. The Internet is a global, easily accessible medium with which all those with a computer, a modem and telephone line can enjoy interaction. The Internet supports open communication and debate; can support the rapid exchange of news and opinion around the globe in seconds; can support new types of activist organisations and can provide mechanisms to support the spread of the activist ethos.

Activists and social-movement groups are no strangers to technology, having long incorporated new technologies into their mechanisms for social-change. In 1989 in Tianinmen Square, Chinese democracy organisations utilized computer bulletin boards to organize protests by the Peoples Liberation Army. The advent of digital communication technologies including the Internet, e-mail, digital cameras and sound recorders has seen a major revolution occur in the activist sector. With the Internet being described by Neil Barrett as a 'domain of computer communication'; a place where national and physical boundaries become obsolete; time-zone and topology now redundant, many activist organisations have gained valuable assistance by the ease in which disjointed networks can now exchange information due to the increased accessibility to data and communal information. Its non-hierarchical structures allow organisations to side-step standard procedure and present their own data, sound and images. For organisations from the very well-known Greenpeace to smaller, less well-established groups like Food-Not-Bombs, digital communication technologies have been a significant aid to the globalisation of their chosen campaigns. The Internet and the multitude of digital technologies which have followed in its wake, have meant that humans are now able to interact with each other on a purely intellectual level and a minimum of direct human interaction is required. The activist organisation Greenpeace has taken advantage of these digital communication technologies and have utilized them to great success by realising the Internets capacity to accommodate protests with a more elongated time-line. Greenpeace  have created websites worldwide in order to allow their point of view and particular ethos to be broadcast and accessed by any commoner with the mechanisms by which to access the internet, and the desire to learn something other than the homogenized news being spoon-fed them by major media organisations. With Greenpeaces major ethos being action through non-violent action, a major success was achieved in April 2006 by global support for their Anti-Whaling campaign. An online petition allowed concerned people to ask Sealord to end its ties with commercial whaling company Nissui, which owns 50 per cent of New Zealand-based Sealord seafood company.  Nissui complied and announced that it would transfer its ownership of Sealord to private investors and also stop distributing and selling whale-meat. Greenpeace campaigns manager Danny Kennedy said "In Australia more than 40,000 people answered our call and signed a web petition to Sealord urging them to pressure their parent company Nissui to get out of whaling". Nearly 45,000 more emails were received from concerned supporters in New Zealand and Argentina.

With the Internet and associated digital communication technologies comes the ability for social effort or action to form, with tens of thousands of participants in a rapid time. The highly specialised virtual spaces on the Internet make it easy to join a community and quickly assume the community ethos. This instant ethos makes it easy to reach many individuals of similar ideals which allows for protests to focus quickly. The Website Protest.net is a one-stop shop for those seeking an activist cause to champion. It provides mechanisms for rapid access of protest information. Protest.net has a service by which an individual can register their e-mail address and receive regular updates and bulletins regarding certain campaigns, organisation and subsequent activist actions. Protest.net broadcasts and displays the cause, location and expected outcomes of protest movement the world over and even provides the Activist Handbook which opens with the statement "This is your world. You can do something to change it". McCaughey and Ayers comment that "people feel like they are doing something useful when they push the send button", and with such a non-direct/direct, non-active/active it is little wonder that these organisations have seen such positive response to their concerns by individuals the world over. Internet and digital communication technologies allow real-time distribution of video, audio, text and photos with potential for interactivity through open-publishing. That is, anyone with access to the Internet can both send and receive information. Independent media centres are a new watershed in an historical continuum of activist media, in which media activists have continually created new communications resources and challenged the enclosure of the communications commons. An IMC (Independent Media Centre) brochure printed in 2001 states "the growing Independent Media Centre Network represents a new and powerful emerging model that counters the trend toward the privatisation of all spaces by expanding our capacity to reclaim public airwaves and resources". The Independent Media Centre allows for un-paid individuals with the means by which to attend and record events and occurrences can now do so, and to use the internet to broadcast these facts, figures, images and sounds to a far greater audience. It also allows the activist individual much more information to consider, opinions to take into account and points of view from which to view certain situations before coming to their own conclusion. The Israeli Indymedia site enthuses "You are your own Journalist" whilst the Italian counterpart endorses "Dont hate the Media become the Media". The IMC represents a major step forward in the tactical use of autonomous media bringing together journalists and activists from across the world with movements that were able to circulate their ethos on a scope and scale not realised before.

The Internet allows for the convergence of meetings, debates, and research in one convenient and speedy medium that greatly enhances not only activists organizational capabilities but also the ability of activists to react to a constantly changing world in a timely manner. In order to educate the public and promote causes and campaigns, activist organizations have utilized the Internet and established an accessible, updateable, interactive, and international presence that previously would have been difficult if not nearly impossible to maintain. Activists recognise the benefits of integrating activism and digital communication technology relatively quickly. The Internet plays a complementary and beneficial role that fits perfectly with existing activist networks. This has allowed activists the world over to utilize the benefits of digital communications.

REFERENCES:

Ayers, M.D., & McCaughey M., (2003) Cyberactivism: online activism in theory and practice. London. Routledge.

Barrett, N., (1996) The State of the Cybernation. London. Kogan Page

Victory Over Whalers (2006, April 4). Retrieved April 23, 2006, from Greenpeace website (http://www.greenpeace.com.au)

 Food not Bombs (2004, April 20). Retrieved April 23, 2006, from Food not Bombs website (http://www.foodnotbombs.net)

Activists Handbook (2001). Retrieved April 24, 2006, from Protest.net website (http://protest.net/)

Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth (1999). Retrieved April 24, 2006 from Independent Media Centre website (http://www.indymedia.org)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Gere, C., (2002) Digital Culture. London. Reaktion Books Ltd.

Wang, W., (2002) Steal this Computer Book:2. San Francisco: California. No Starch Press

The Hacktivism FAQ (2001, September 29). Retrieved April 8, 2006 from Cult of the Dead Cow website (http://www.cultdeadcow.com)

War of the Words: Virtual media versus Mainstream Press (1999, December 3) Retrieved April 12, 2006 from Christian Science monitor website (http://www.csmonitor.com)

6:39 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

myspace & activism...

cheers tom, ya bloody great DUDE!

From:	Tom
Date:	Mar 29, 2006 2:30 PM
Subject:	myspace & activism
Body:	it's interesting to see how people are using myspace to organize for political causes. :) there was a report on NPR about it today :) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5309238

3:42 AM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

scavenger hunt: found 'em!!! *using altavista search engine*
Current mood: unfinished
Category: unfinished School, College, Greek

1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin?

"The largest pumpkin ever grown stands at 1,469 pounds. It was grown by Larry Checkon of North Cambria, Pennsylvania. It was weighed in on October 1, 2005 at the Pennsylvania Giant Pumpkin Growers Weighoff."

2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Grant Hackett?

"Grant Hackett's Swim Club-
Miami Olympic Heated Pool
80 Pacific Ave
Miami, QLD, 4220
Australia"

3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?



A Giraffe will clean off any bugs that appear on its face (usually while eating) with its extremely long tongue (about 18 inches). The tongue is unusually tough on account of the giraffe's diet, which often consists of thorns from the tree it is making a meal of.

4. How would you define the word "ontology"? In your own words, what does it really mean ?

"on·tol·o·gy    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (n-tl-j)
n.

The branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being.

on·tolo·gist

ontology

n : the metaphysical study of the nature of being and existence

ontology

he following was written shortly after my arrest...

                       ../..The Conscience of a Hacker/../

                                      by

                               +++The Mentor+++

                          Written on January 8, 1986
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

        Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers.  "Teenager
Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"...
        Damn kids.  They're all alike.

        But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain,
ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker?  Did you ever wonder what
made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?
        I am a hacker, enter my world...
        Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of
the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...
        Damn underachiever.  They're all alike.

        I'm in junior high or high school.  I've listened to teachers explain
for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction.  I understand it.  "No, Ms.
Smith, I didn't show my work.  I did it in my head..."
        Damn kid.  Probably copied it.  They're all alike.

        I made a discovery today.  I found a computer.  Wait a second, this is
cool.  It does what I want it to.  If it makes a mistake, it's because I
screwed it up.  Not because it doesn't like me...
                Or feels threatened by me...
                Or thinks I'm a smart ass...
                Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...
        Damn kid.  All he does is play games.  They're all alike.

        And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through
the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is
sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is
found.
        "This is it... this is where I belong..."
        I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to
them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...
        Damn kid.  Tying up the phone line again.  They're all alike...

        You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at
school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip
through were pre-chewed and tasteless.  We've been dominated by sadists, or
ignored by the apathetic.  The few that had something to teach found us will-
ing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

        This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the
beauty of the baud.  We make use of a service already existing without paying
for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and
you call us criminals.  We explore... and you call us criminals.  We seek
after knowledge... and you call us criminals.  We exist without skin color,
without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals.
You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us
and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

        Yes, I am a criminal.  My crime is that of curiosity.  My crime is
that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.
My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me
for.

        I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto.  You may stop this individual,
but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.

                               +++The Mentor+++"

(thank you for this question!!!!!)

7. Why do all phone numbers in Hollywood films start with "555"?


TV ACRES:

" TV Acres provides a page explaining
the origin of the 555 prefix. It turns
out that the prefix was reserved for TV and movies use so the viewing
public wouldn't harass real phone customers when they were looking to
speak with their favorite stars. 

A link on the TV Acres site led us to a more detailed explanation of how 555 became the number of choice in entertainment. In the old exchange-name telephone number system (think Pennsylvania 6-5000), no English place names contained the combination of the letters J, K, and L -- all assigned to the digit "5" on the phone. So the prefix 555 went largely unused, and Hollywood was encouraged to use it to discourage those darn crank-calling kids. These days, 555 phone numbers are actually being assigned to legitimate businesses, and Hollywood has been restricted to numbers in the 555-0100 to 555-0199 range.

Finally, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention 555-LIST, an ongoing project to compile all the 555 numbers used in TV and movies. So whether you're trying to dial Agent Scully at Quantico (555-2804) or Ned Flanders in Springfield (555-8904), you'll find the numbers of all your favorite fictional characters. Reach out and touch someone, but don't blame us if you get a busy signal."

8. What is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes?

9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?

brisbanewritersfestival.com.au

"Stephen Stockwell

5:28 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

hacktivism links
Current mood: stupid
Category: stupid School, College, Greek

it's sure not greek....

here's some links i'm using to research my essay:

CULT OF THE DEAD COW

WIRED MAGAZINE piece on Hacktivism

ok, so now my freaking link button here won't ork and you're going to have to do some work for yourselves....:

http://www.openflows.org/index.pl?section=analysis&subsection=27

http://www.gis.net/~cht/hacktivismlinks.html

http://www.gis.net/~cht/hacktivism.html

http://www.alternet.org/story/9223/

http://www.collusion.org/Article.cfm?ID=109

http://www.thehacktivist.com/hacktivism.php

have some fun why don't you?

(:

Currently listening : Raw Power By Iggy & the Stooges Release date: By 22 April, 1997

4:26 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Edit - Remove

thee essay
Current mood: i fink i bwoke it
Category: i fink i bwoke it School, College, Greek

ok - so i've decided on a topic for thee dig/comm/tech essay:

HACKTIVISM

awesome - i get to combine 3 things i love the most:

hacking
activism
words

HOORAH!

spent 20 of the available 24hrs yesterday reading:

CYBERACTIVISM (McCaughey & Ayers)
DIGITAL CULTURE (Charlie Gere)
THE STATE OF THE CYBERNATION (Neil Barrett)

filled an entire 48 page school book with my notes...

i think i've busted a circuit in my brain.

Currently listening : Are You Prepared? By Jammin' Unit Release date: By 05 January, 1999

10:03 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove