Friday, September 11, 2009

Lecture Catch Up : Week 5, 6, 7! (Sorry, it's been a while!)

Lecture Week 5
Okay, so it is IMPOSSIBLE to take notes in Jason Nelson's lectures. I swear. It is not my fault that this is all I have written:

"Huge peaks to huge drops.

Visually interesting, robust, dynamic, useful!

So many tools - so few people know how to use them.

GOOGLE MAP."


Yes, that is all I wrote. So those are the main points that I took from his lecture.


The first part about peaks and drops refers to social networking sites, i.e. MySpace going from hero to zero in a very short space of time. The only thing I personally use MySpace for these days is to follow certain blogs (Jenna Fischer, Zachary Quinto). Otherwise all the ads on it drive me INSANE.


Jason predicted the popularity of Twitter wouldn't last long, and I must admit I agree with him. Although, I think the longevity of Twitter relies solely on celebrities/artists/actuallyinterestingpeople keeping their accounts. I use Twitter to find out what funny thing Rove or Rainn Wilson has to say, or even to find out news from the New York Times or to find out what comedian has what show when. I don't use it to communicate with friends.


The next part about about being visually interesting, robust, dynamic and useful! refers to websites! I learnt this last semester in writing for the web, although as a frequent internet user I kind of had an idea about these things anyway. There is nothing worse than a website that is TOO busy (i.e. MySpace and its BILLIONS of ads like I mentioned before) and full, or that doesn't really serve a purpose. Here is a link to GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow's website. I think this is one of the best websites I have come across. It's simple, serves its purpose and is easy to navigate!

That's a small screenshot of the homepage, although you can't really see it that well. It's really cool, you should definitely check it.

Anyway, the last thing I wrote about so many tools, but so few people know how to use them is about the CRAZY amount of useful things that you can do with the internet. But either we are too lazy to figure out all these things, or we just have no idea how to go about discovering them! I am both. Bad combo. It's terrible but all I need the internet for is reading blogs, looking at fashion and procrastinating uni work. Am I a bad internet user?

Lecture Week 6

History of Production and Consumption

CONSUMPTION:

Big Screen: Cinema (Shared), TV (Shared/Private), PC (Private/Shared-we can consume and produce). We are consumers of media.

I must admit, I'm still old fashioned and enjoy watching movies and TV with out human beings. It's fun to watch things with people! See their reactions, discuss who's cute etc.

Small Screen: Personal Media Player, iPod (on the go consumption, but must be preloaded); Mobile Phones, Smart Phones (on the go); 3G (don't have to preload, can access almost anywhere). Good for providing info>news, websites, scores. Good for information but not so much entertainment because data transfer rates are bad.

Soooo I pretty much fail at this small screen thing. I have had the same phone since my 16th birthday (I'm 19 now, almost 20). But all I need it for is to call or text people. Even texting is freaking annoying. I mean really, what is THAT important that I have to find out in the car on my phone on the way home, that I can't find out when I open the newspaper or turn on the TV when I actually get home? If it's that dangerous or life-threatening my Mum will call and warn me.

PRODUCTION:

-Fan Film: Produsage (Both production and consumption at the same time), Creates Consume>Produce>Consume chain i.e. with Troops the Star Wars fan film, made by an existing Star Wars fan for Star Wars fans.
-Fan Edits
-Recuts
-Producing content with mobile phone and putting it on the net (on information, news events, works well online/on phones, consumed on phones/net.


Lecture Week 7

Open Source Software:

PROBLEMS:
-We don't care how software is made/works. Yes, we take software for granted. I don't really have further comment on this, because it's true. If it does what I want, then I am happy. I don't need to waste further time thinking about it do I?

-Viruses . Uhhhhhh, know NOTHING about viruses. Probably tuned out during this part of the lecture and starting thinking about the hash browns I was going to eat after class finished.

-Manual updates. No automatic updates like on Microsoft or Windows or whatever. I certainly don't possess the knowledge or skill to manually update software and I don't need it either. I want to be a writer. It would be completely useless.

-No money involved in making/maintaining this software.

-Can't be bothered searching for open-source software. This is true. I usually just get frustrated when things don't work on the computer and I just give up altogether. But after this lecture I will endeavour to search more. Maybe. I suck at searching/having patience so probably not.

-Software packages don't have AS many features as Microsoft or MacOs. Often geared towards one purpose.


Can you tell this was another Jason Nelson lecture? i.e my notes are vague and minimal.

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