New Interactive Environments
My first experience with Webpublishing dates back to high school when I built a personal website using basic HTML as part of the Computer Science class. As this was also the time when I strarted travelling abroad, my personal homepage included flashbacks and photos of (school) trips. Photos, of course, were scanned and then uploaded, digital camera became part of my life several years later.
I created my first weblog for the same reason, i.e. travelling, when I set off for a year in Australia after my bachelor studies in 2006. Blog was the best way to keep in contact with my family and friends back home and those around the world, as time difference and limited Internet access made it difficult to call or chat online. The blogs we regularly updated with my close friend and travel companion blaze the trail to a real publishing experience. Our travel book 'Austraalia - Down Under' was published in September 2008, in collaboration with Pegasus. If it hadn't been for the blogs we frequently updated with a great passion and will, writing a book would have been difficult.
As for my current jobs, I'm employed part-time at two companies where I'm responsible for the content of two websites. One of them is a travel portal Turism.ee and the other one includes information on advertising in different publications of AS Eesti Ajalehed.
As many of you, I'm actively involved in social networks (mostly Facebook and travel communities). I follow RSS feeds through Feedreader, use communication tools (mainly Skype and MSN), Google Docs and Google Desktop. I'm interested in photography and recently bought a digital SLR camera, but haven't really used any photo publishing applications (apart from my personal blog and Facebook albums) as yet.
However, the breakthrough in my Webpublishing experience seems to be taking place now. Within the first 3 weeks at IMKE (Interactive Media and Knowledge Environments), I have created another personal blog for study purposes, set up Dropbox on my computer, downloaded and used IHMC CmapTools software, held weekly Skype conversations, used Flashmeeting tool for a videoconference, registered to a course on IVA, browsed social bookmarks on delicious.com, subscribed to Scribd, peeked into the 3D virtual world of Second Life, etc. I'm new to many of these tools and services, but I'm getting there!
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Terje's overview of our group's Webpublishing experience can be found on NIE's weblog.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
New Media: Concept map 2
Session 6 [7.9]: Social interaction in new media communities
Key topics
Key topics
- What is communication and the discourse. Medium, message, meaning. Activity theory and mediators.
- Social interaction with computers. Intersubjectivity. Interaction modes and models. Automatic tutoring systems.
- Networking and communities. Social networking and awareness. Connectivism.
- Communities of practice. Identity. Situated cognition. Socially constructed knowledge.
- Interactions based on swarming.
- How does a community serve as a "cultural interface" to mediate communication with computers?
- Think of the terms related with social interaction with new media. Draw a concept map of social interaction.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Discovered Glogster
Glog is a kind of poster - fully designed by yourself. It's a fancy creation from text, images, music and video that gives you a perfect tool to express yourself.
People mainly create glogs about themselves, about love, family and friends, school, art, music, etc. You can browse them by category.
A sample glog: eLearning Prioritisation Tool
People mainly create glogs about themselves, about love, family and friends, school, art, music, etc. You can browse them by category.
A sample glog: eLearning Prioritisation Tool
Week 2: Ethics and Law in New Media
September 20-26
Topic 3: The Networked World
Write a short opinion in your blog about the real applicability of nonmarket production and related strategies in your main field of activities (e.g. design, education etc).
As Yochai Benkler points out in his The Wealth of Networks, most of the basic science as well as information and Internet software is produced by noncommercial industries or widespread cooperative networks of volunteers. When economists speak of information, they usually say that it is 'non-rival' - its consumption by one person does not make it any less available for consumption by another.
Noncommercial or nonmarket production has a significant role in tourism industry. For the most part, tourism bureaux and non-market production offer their output at no charge or at less than economically significant prices. The kind of services referred to here include for example information offices (e.g. at airports, in local communities), museums, libraries. The whole industry is based on useful information and personal visitor experience.
The choice is ours, whether we buy travel guides (such as Lonely Planet, Frommer's, Eyewitness or similar) or rely on other travellers who are more than happy to share their experience on numerous travel forums (such as TripAdvisor or the good and functional local Trip.ee, the latter being an even better example as it was started by a group of travel enthusiasts for noncommercial use). As the trend is more and more towards independent travel planning, people often turn to forum environments before they turn to traditional or online travel agencies. To be able to say one is a tourism professional, he or she must have a notable travel experience, which makes a lot of frequent travellers (who are often also frequent bloggers and forum visitors) a good and reliable source of information. Especially about destinations off the beaten path, untouched by masses.
Wikitravel is a widely used open source travel guide featuring up-to-date information on attractions, hotels, restaurants, travel tips and more. So far there are 24,060 destination guides and other articles written and edited by Wikitravellers from around the globe.
As a person who has always had itchy feet, I like to think of travelling as one form of education and self-enrichment. Travelling enables us to broaden the minds in obvious respects, living in another culture permits to collate it to our own. According to Benkler, information, knowledge and culture are equally vital for human development and freedom, and since the beginning of the Internet age these three have obtained a more and more central position in our society. For those, who really want to experience the depths of different cultures and suck in the knowledge, travelling is lifestyle that is away from commercial products. Therefore, nonmarket production and related strategies are applicable, and widely practiced, in the field of tourism.
Topic 4: Censors in Cyberspace
Pick a blocking software package. Install it to a PC and test it by browsing the web. Try some of the supposed 'forbidden' sites as well as some controversial issues (feminism, disabilities, minorities, various political movements and organisations). Blog your experiences.
I tried out CyberPatrol 7.7, supposedly the pioneer and leader in the Parental Control software market, launched in 1995. The first time I installed it on my computer, I chose the most restricted environment and user type, i.e child at home, to understand what it is like to use Internet under total control. This user profile filters unwanted content at maximum strength, blocks chats and social networking sites, imposes daily and weekly browse limits. Practically makes browsing the web nearly impossible. For some reasons, the instant override option, that should allow to unlock the blocked content entering the Headquarters password, did not work on my browser.
I tried to create another user profile to surf the web as a mature teen. As I have only one Windows profile to log into the computer, I encountered a difficulty as CyberPatrol automatically offers to create a CyberPatrol user profile using the Windows user name. This enables CyberPatrol to automatically select the appropriate CyberPatrol user profile whenever a user logs on with their Windows user account. After consulting the Help feature, I found out it is also possible to create Windows independent profiles if you prefer to have just one Windows profile to log into the computer but would like each user to have their own CyberPatrol user profile.
The CyberPatrol user type mature teen filters content at medium to maximum strength but allows chat and sex education websites. Time management is enabled as a default setting but all settings can be customized at the so called Headquarters. I must have been doing my homework too late, because at about 11:30 pm my browser was blocked. Reason: Access to websites is denied at this time of day. I disabled the time management and surfed a few pages: adult/sexually explicit content vs sex education. The first were all blocked, while the latter gave results as a search word on Google, YouTube, etc. I tried a few other 'threatening' words including sex and fortunately names like Sex Pistols didn't get blocked. Bearing education in mind, I searched for the words bully and cyber bullying to see what comes up and whether I get relevant information on these issues. I did find websites that explain this threat and help children or teenagers to be aware of and take precautions to avoid or fight the bullies. However, with the word bully the first search result Google gave me was: Rockstar Games Presents BULLY. Although the third person action-adventure video game, where the player takes control of teenage rebel James 'Jimmy' Hopkins, has an ESRB rating T (Teen) (content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older), it has caused controversy among parents and educators. Groups such as Bullying Online and Peaceaholics have criticized the game for glorifying or trivializing school bullying. In 2007, Yahoo! Games listed it as one of the top ten controversial games of all time.
CyberPatrol offers to set up a user profile also for other environments and user types, including adults. The business environment user profile protects users from adult/sexually explicit, spyware and phishing websites with medium strength filtering for all other non-productive categories. No time restrictions.
Having tried the different options and given a thought about my own user experience, I believe programs like CyberPatrol might have some good use, preferably with customized settings, agreed by both the parent and the child. There is also an option to try the Monitor Only version that doesn't block content or impose time restrictions, but allows you to view reports on activity summary for each monitored user profile. I agree that the best parent is a parent with enough time, courage and wisdom, a parent who doesn't make bones about tabooed topics and prepares the child to survive in the real world. As for my generation, Internet became an everyday part of our lives relatively late, in high school or for some of us even at the uni. We were mature teens or grownups and didn't need much parental guide. However, I admit some time restriction would have saved my parents quite a few shockingly huge phone bills in the early dial-up years. It is important that we know about the so called cyber sharks now that we have become or are about to become parents ourselves. To keep Internet access free of constricting rules as we are used to it, to let our children take the best of it, we must learn to balance the use of Internet and other important activities both in our own lives and those of our children. If the growing number of Patrol-like programs help to raise our attention, they have already been somewhat useful, even when not directly applied.
What are the Cyber Sharks? E-Book - Surfing Among The Cyber Sharks (PDF)
Topic 3: The Networked World
Write a short opinion in your blog about the real applicability of nonmarket production and related strategies in your main field of activities (e.g. design, education etc).
As Yochai Benkler points out in his The Wealth of Networks, most of the basic science as well as information and Internet software is produced by noncommercial industries or widespread cooperative networks of volunteers. When economists speak of information, they usually say that it is 'non-rival' - its consumption by one person does not make it any less available for consumption by another.
Noncommercial or nonmarket production has a significant role in tourism industry. For the most part, tourism bureaux and non-market production offer their output at no charge or at less than economically significant prices. The kind of services referred to here include for example information offices (e.g. at airports, in local communities), museums, libraries. The whole industry is based on useful information and personal visitor experience.
The choice is ours, whether we buy travel guides (such as Lonely Planet, Frommer's, Eyewitness or similar) or rely on other travellers who are more than happy to share their experience on numerous travel forums (such as TripAdvisor or the good and functional local Trip.ee, the latter being an even better example as it was started by a group of travel enthusiasts for noncommercial use). As the trend is more and more towards independent travel planning, people often turn to forum environments before they turn to traditional or online travel agencies. To be able to say one is a tourism professional, he or she must have a notable travel experience, which makes a lot of frequent travellers (who are often also frequent bloggers and forum visitors) a good and reliable source of information. Especially about destinations off the beaten path, untouched by masses.
Wikitravel is a widely used open source travel guide featuring up-to-date information on attractions, hotels, restaurants, travel tips and more. So far there are 24,060 destination guides and other articles written and edited by Wikitravellers from around the globe.
As a person who has always had itchy feet, I like to think of travelling as one form of education and self-enrichment. Travelling enables us to broaden the minds in obvious respects, living in another culture permits to collate it to our own. According to Benkler, information, knowledge and culture are equally vital for human development and freedom, and since the beginning of the Internet age these three have obtained a more and more central position in our society. For those, who really want to experience the depths of different cultures and suck in the knowledge, travelling is lifestyle that is away from commercial products. Therefore, nonmarket production and related strategies are applicable, and widely practiced, in the field of tourism.
Topic 4: Censors in Cyberspace
Pick a blocking software package. Install it to a PC and test it by browsing the web. Try some of the supposed 'forbidden' sites as well as some controversial issues (feminism, disabilities, minorities, various political movements and organisations). Blog your experiences.
I tried out CyberPatrol 7.7, supposedly the pioneer and leader in the Parental Control software market, launched in 1995. The first time I installed it on my computer, I chose the most restricted environment and user type, i.e child at home, to understand what it is like to use Internet under total control. This user profile filters unwanted content at maximum strength, blocks chats and social networking sites, imposes daily and weekly browse limits. Practically makes browsing the web nearly impossible. For some reasons, the instant override option, that should allow to unlock the blocked content entering the Headquarters password, did not work on my browser.
I tried to create another user profile to surf the web as a mature teen. As I have only one Windows profile to log into the computer, I encountered a difficulty as CyberPatrol automatically offers to create a CyberPatrol user profile using the Windows user name. This enables CyberPatrol to automatically select the appropriate CyberPatrol user profile whenever a user logs on with their Windows user account. After consulting the Help feature, I found out it is also possible to create Windows independent profiles if you prefer to have just one Windows profile to log into the computer but would like each user to have their own CyberPatrol user profile.
The CyberPatrol user type mature teen filters content at medium to maximum strength but allows chat and sex education websites. Time management is enabled as a default setting but all settings can be customized at the so called Headquarters. I must have been doing my homework too late, because at about 11:30 pm my browser was blocked. Reason: Access to websites is denied at this time of day. I disabled the time management and surfed a few pages: adult/sexually explicit content vs sex education. The first were all blocked, while the latter gave results as a search word on Google, YouTube, etc. I tried a few other 'threatening' words including sex and fortunately names like Sex Pistols didn't get blocked. Bearing education in mind, I searched for the words bully and cyber bullying to see what comes up and whether I get relevant information on these issues. I did find websites that explain this threat and help children or teenagers to be aware of and take precautions to avoid or fight the bullies. However, with the word bully the first search result Google gave me was: Rockstar Games Presents BULLY. Although the third person action-adventure video game, where the player takes control of teenage rebel James 'Jimmy' Hopkins, has an ESRB rating T (Teen) (content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older), it has caused controversy among parents and educators. Groups such as Bullying Online and Peaceaholics have criticized the game for glorifying or trivializing school bullying. In 2007, Yahoo! Games listed it as one of the top ten controversial games of all time.
CyberPatrol offers to set up a user profile also for other environments and user types, including adults. The business environment user profile protects users from adult/sexually explicit, spyware and phishing websites with medium strength filtering for all other non-productive categories. No time restrictions.
Having tried the different options and given a thought about my own user experience, I believe programs like CyberPatrol might have some good use, preferably with customized settings, agreed by both the parent and the child. There is also an option to try the Monitor Only version that doesn't block content or impose time restrictions, but allows you to view reports on activity summary for each monitored user profile. I agree that the best parent is a parent with enough time, courage and wisdom, a parent who doesn't make bones about tabooed topics and prepares the child to survive in the real world. As for my generation, Internet became an everyday part of our lives relatively late, in high school or for some of us even at the uni. We were mature teens or grownups and didn't need much parental guide. However, I admit some time restriction would have saved my parents quite a few shockingly huge phone bills in the early dial-up years. It is important that we know about the so called cyber sharks now that we have become or are about to become parents ourselves. To keep Internet access free of constricting rules as we are used to it, to let our children take the best of it, we must learn to balance the use of Internet and other important activities both in our own lives and those of our children. If the growing number of Patrol-like programs help to raise our attention, they have already been somewhat useful, even when not directly applied.
What are the Cyber Sharks? E-Book - Surfing Among The Cyber Sharks (PDF)
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Wiki team and topic
Ethics and Law in New Media
Our team of five (Kairi, Kerstin, Kristo, Mehrnoosh, Valeria) has decided to take a deeper look into virtual worlds, such as Second Life (SL). Some of us have tried it, some aren't. I personally have no experience in attending virtual parties or events whatsoever. So, surprised by how many of you have peeked into your second life, my interest grew.
And a few questions arose: How far does the virtual life take us? And how soon? And how much do we feel like letting it co-exist with our non-virtual world? The first thing I noticed opening the SL homepage was the invitation to "escape to the Internet's largest 3D virtual world community". But do we want to escape? What do we want to escape from? What about real life, real events, real friends?
Mehrnoosh threw in an intriguing question: Is real life turning to a second life?
Valeria said she knows people who have lost themselves in the debt of virtual reality. One of them, for instance, spent a lot of money and many holidays on Wow. In her own words, till this day the most romantic thing that ever happened to her was in a Wow environment (watching a virtual sunset with a boy from a LAN party).
Kerstin has some experience with Second Life from her Bachelor's studies as part of a course, but she is interested in learning more about the background.
Kristo suggested to structure the paper based on past, present and future (that is, our theory and thoughts of the future).
So we all agreed!
Our team of five (Kairi, Kerstin, Kristo, Mehrnoosh, Valeria) has decided to take a deeper look into virtual worlds, such as Second Life (SL). Some of us have tried it, some aren't. I personally have no experience in attending virtual parties or events whatsoever. So, surprised by how many of you have peeked into your second life, my interest grew.
And a few questions arose: How far does the virtual life take us? And how soon? And how much do we feel like letting it co-exist with our non-virtual world? The first thing I noticed opening the SL homepage was the invitation to "escape to the Internet's largest 3D virtual world community". But do we want to escape? What do we want to escape from? What about real life, real events, real friends?
Mehrnoosh threw in an intriguing question: Is real life turning to a second life?
Valeria said she knows people who have lost themselves in the debt of virtual reality. One of them, for instance, spent a lot of money and many holidays on Wow. In her own words, till this day the most romantic thing that ever happened to her was in a Wow environment (watching a virtual sunset with a boy from a LAN party).
Kerstin has some experience with Second Life from her Bachelor's studies as part of a course, but she is interested in learning more about the background.
Kristo suggested to structure the paper based on past, present and future (that is, our theory and thoughts of the future).
So we all agreed!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Ideas worth spreading
Only a fortnight away from the start of the master studies we are meeting once a week to discuss thesis interest and share initial literature reviews. It may be a little bit too early for all of us to know what we want to research, but I've become to like this seminar a lot. The two topics I really enjoyed this week were photogrammetry and data visualization.
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry, as its name implies, is a 3-dimensional coordinate measuring technique that uses photographs as the fundamental medium for metrology (or measurement). PhotoModeler is one of the leading softwares for photogrammetry.
The beauty of data visualization
David McCandless turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut - and it may just change the way we see the world.
Thank you, Mehrnoosh and Valeria, for sharing these interesting thoughts!
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry, as its name implies, is a 3-dimensional coordinate measuring technique that uses photographs as the fundamental medium for metrology (or measurement). PhotoModeler is one of the leading softwares for photogrammetry.
The beauty of data visualization
David McCandless turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut - and it may just change the way we see the world.
Thank you, Mehrnoosh and Valeria, for sharing these interesting thoughts!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
"Good guys" vs "bad guys"
While getting ready for work this morning, I listened to Estonian Public Broadcasting's ethical counsellor Tarmu Tammerk discussing the ethics of mentioning nationality in news, especially in headlines - based on a recent article about a Gypsy man, a suspect for several crimes including murders.
Does nationality matter? Is it necessary to always emphasize where somebody comes from? Or perhaps it should be given as additional information and not highlighted in the headline? Here's an example: "Indian man kills pedestrian in road accident" or "A pedestrian was killed in a tragic road accident. The driver, who is from India, was driving a Kia".
It is mainly the case with negative news headlines (crimes, murders, terrorist attacks, car accidents, etc) where putting too much emphasis on individual's nationality can stir up hate and stereotyping towards the whole nation. What about the good news though? We also read about national hereos who have done something noteworthy. Don't mind mentioning the nationality there, do we?
Do you feel we live in an age of tolerance or are you also displeased with all the negative feedback we often get in forums and news comments? And all the stereotyping. Just trying to think which nations have been labeled the most.
According to Media Awareness Network, stereotypes can be a side effect of tight deadlines. Reporters for daily newspapers or news shows often have to research, write and present a story in one working day. They may not have time to present several sides of an issue. They may need a quick, convenient, pre-packaged image, and a stereotypical word or headline can provide that.
Because the news industry is under pressure to attract readers and viewers, it has to produce stories that are compelling, short and easily understandable to a general audience. By using stereotypes, a complex issue involving people with complex motives can be reduced to a simple conflict between "good guys" and "bad guys". This can happen when the media try to make real events appear more dramatic, or when a situation needs to be explained in a 10-second sound bite.
Does nationality matter? Is it necessary to always emphasize where somebody comes from? Or perhaps it should be given as additional information and not highlighted in the headline? Here's an example: "Indian man kills pedestrian in road accident" or "A pedestrian was killed in a tragic road accident. The driver, who is from India, was driving a Kia".
It is mainly the case with negative news headlines (crimes, murders, terrorist attacks, car accidents, etc) where putting too much emphasis on individual's nationality can stir up hate and stereotyping towards the whole nation. What about the good news though? We also read about national hereos who have done something noteworthy. Don't mind mentioning the nationality there, do we?
Do you feel we live in an age of tolerance or are you also displeased with all the negative feedback we often get in forums and news comments? And all the stereotyping. Just trying to think which nations have been labeled the most.
Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks French, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian, and it is all organised by the Swiss.
Hell is where the police are German, the cooks British, the mechanics French, the lovers Swiss, and it is all organised by the Italians.When deadlines loom, stereotype?
According to Media Awareness Network, stereotypes can be a side effect of tight deadlines. Reporters for daily newspapers or news shows often have to research, write and present a story in one working day. They may not have time to present several sides of an issue. They may need a quick, convenient, pre-packaged image, and a stereotypical word or headline can provide that.
Because the news industry is under pressure to attract readers and viewers, it has to produce stories that are compelling, short and easily understandable to a general audience. By using stereotypes, a complex issue involving people with complex motives can be reduced to a simple conflict between "good guys" and "bad guys". This can happen when the media try to make real events appear more dramatic, or when a situation needs to be explained in a 10-second sound bite.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Master thesis interests
Master Seminar I
Week 2 (September 23)
The future of newspapers
My first idea was to observe the changes Estonian newspapers are going through while moving their content online, and to look into the 3 types of readers: those who continue reading a print version, those who prefer to read the paper online (perhaps downloading a PDF format), and those who quickly settle into reading their favourite newspaper(s) on iPhone/iPad apps (which many of the Estonian publishers are expected to introduce already in the next couple of months). What are the interactive features online and/or iPad/iPhone readers are looking for, how do the editors (many of whom are still used to producing paper content) manage to meet the expectations of these readers? Would Estonians, who have one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world but who at the same time are used to free Wi-Fi in most of the public places, accept to pay for online content, and how much cheaper should an online version of the newspaper be, in order for the reader to want to buy it and for the publisher to make their desired profit?
Newspaper iPhone apps can bring a leading edge technology to an industry many consider tired and old fashioned, maybe even comatose. What an iPhone app can do is bring the newspaper and its content one step closer to the customers, who are able to personalize and share their favorite news content and read it anywhere they are, even offline. iPhone apps can help newspapers add a social networking feature to their publications and give an advertising sales force something new to talk about with potential advertisers instead of dwelling on declining circulation numbers.
The first area of interest is closely related to my job as a Marketing Specialist for the Estonian weeklies Eesti Ekspress and Maaleht, and therefore quite easily researchable. However, I find it more and more appealing to observe the iPhone/iPad generation, especially as a new and exciting interactive learning device for children.
iPad - a revolution in children's culture
Children are hardwired for touch interfaces, and they have become to love iPhones. Although the iPad was only recently introduced, it has proved to be even more appealing and is believed to spark a revolution in children's culture. Kids will learn to read, write and count on iPads, watch TV, movies and cartoons on iPads, do social networking, play games, and even colour in virtual colouring books. Book publishers and entertainment companies around the world have already found a way to children's heart through iPad apps. What could be the best practices for education providers in using iPad as a teaching/learning device? Will iPad prepare children better for the future than TV has done so far? How can parents use iPad in their childrens' best interest? What are the advantages for themselves? What is an acceptable age for a child to become friends with iPad? How is their reaction going to vary in different age groups? What is the situation going to look like in Estonia where iPhones are already quite popular but iPads are not officially sold as yet? Is iPad going to be the No. 1 most requested holiday and birthday gift anytime soon?
Reading: Why iPad Is the 'Children's Toy of the Year'
Overview
You can follow him on Twitter or his blog, The Raw Feed.
A few videos on the topic
Week 2 (September 23)
The future of newspapers
My first idea was to observe the changes Estonian newspapers are going through while moving their content online, and to look into the 3 types of readers: those who continue reading a print version, those who prefer to read the paper online (perhaps downloading a PDF format), and those who quickly settle into reading their favourite newspaper(s) on iPhone/iPad apps (which many of the Estonian publishers are expected to introduce already in the next couple of months). What are the interactive features online and/or iPad/iPhone readers are looking for, how do the editors (many of whom are still used to producing paper content) manage to meet the expectations of these readers? Would Estonians, who have one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world but who at the same time are used to free Wi-Fi in most of the public places, accept to pay for online content, and how much cheaper should an online version of the newspaper be, in order for the reader to want to buy it and for the publisher to make their desired profit?
Newspaper iPhone apps can bring a leading edge technology to an industry many consider tired and old fashioned, maybe even comatose. What an iPhone app can do is bring the newspaper and its content one step closer to the customers, who are able to personalize and share their favorite news content and read it anywhere they are, even offline. iPhone apps can help newspapers add a social networking feature to their publications and give an advertising sales force something new to talk about with potential advertisers instead of dwelling on declining circulation numbers.
The first area of interest is closely related to my job as a Marketing Specialist for the Estonian weeklies Eesti Ekspress and Maaleht, and therefore quite easily researchable. However, I find it more and more appealing to observe the iPhone/iPad generation, especially as a new and exciting interactive learning device for children.
iPad - a revolution in children's culture
Children are hardwired for touch interfaces, and they have become to love iPhones. Although the iPad was only recently introduced, it has proved to be even more appealing and is believed to spark a revolution in children's culture. Kids will learn to read, write and count on iPads, watch TV, movies and cartoons on iPads, do social networking, play games, and even colour in virtual colouring books. Book publishers and entertainment companies around the world have already found a way to children's heart through iPad apps. What could be the best practices for education providers in using iPad as a teaching/learning device? Will iPad prepare children better for the future than TV has done so far? How can parents use iPad in their childrens' best interest? What are the advantages for themselves? What is an acceptable age for a child to become friends with iPad? How is their reaction going to vary in different age groups? What is the situation going to look like in Estonia where iPhones are already quite popular but iPads are not officially sold as yet? Is iPad going to be the No. 1 most requested holiday and birthday gift anytime soon?
Reading: Why iPad Is the 'Children's Toy of the Year'
Overview
- If the iPhone was natural for children, the iPad will be even more natural, simply because it's larger.
- I think the iPad will spark a revolution in children's culture. I'm convinced that starting this year, and especially next year, iPads will be the No. 1 most requested holiday and birthday gift by everyone under the age of 18, and especially under the age of 12.
- Starting this year, kids will learn to read, write and count on iPads. They'll watch TV, movies and cartoons on iPads. They'll do social networking, play games, and even color in virtual coloring books.
- By the time these kids reach middle school, they will have been using multitouch user interfaces almost every day for eight years or more.
- The iPad platform will prove irresistible to everyone - parents, content providers, and especially the kids themselves.
You can follow him on Twitter or his blog, The Raw Feed.
A few videos on the topic
Thursday, September 16, 2010
IFI7101: Essay topics
These are presented in relation to each lecture.
- What characterizes new media?
- New media – a technology or culture?
- Is interactive media a subset of new media?
- Do we drive interactive media or does it drive us?
- How is interactive media facilitated and what does it facilitate?
- How does a community serve as a "cultural interface" to mediate communication with computers?
- Does new media narrative change our identity? (Will new media lead us back to the global tribe?)
- What are new standards for writing narratives with new media?
- Mixed media perception – how we may perceive one new media application? For this essay choose one new media application that is largely based on mixed media information. How can you explain the effect of new media on people, using this new media application as an example?
- Learning at hybrid places: applications of the triplet Content-User-Tag (geotag). In this empirical essay you should investigate and explain interaction, knowledge building and learning possibilities in hybrid environments (combined from real locations and new media).
- Digital ecosystem – a fertile metaphor or the new type of ecosystem that uses ecological principles? In this empirical essay you should describe how you conceptualize digital ecosystem concept using the examples from new media environments.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
IFI7101: Compulsory literature
- Moggridge, Bill (2007). Designing Interactions. The MIT Press
- Nissenbaum, Helen (2009). Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life. Stanford Law Books
- Norman, Donald (2002). The Design of Everyday Things. Basic Books
- Lev Manovitch (2008). Software Takes Command
- Lievrouw, L. A. and Livingstone, S. (2004). The Handbook of New Media. Chapter 10. Exploring Models of Interactivity from Multiple Research Traditions: Users, Documents, Systems (pp.163-182). Sage Publications
- Oostendorp van H. (2003). Cognition in a digital world. Working memory constraints in integration and comprehension of information in a multimedia context (pp. 3-25); Social considerations in online communities: usability, sociability and success factors (pp. 127-151). Lawrence Ehrlbaum Publishers
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Week 1: Ethics and Law in New Media
September 13-19
Topic 1: Ethics in Turbulent Times
Read Pekka Himanen's paper "Challenges of the Global Information Society" and write a blog review.
Originally prepared for the Finnish Parliament's Committee for the Future, Himanen's paper looks at the challenges to the global development of the information society and suggests one alternative for meeting these challenges: the model of the information society combined with the welfare state.
Himanen defines the idea of the information society as a creative society that is based on interaction. He emphasises that the most important to the information society is not new technology but a new way of doing things. From a theoretical perspective, the key concepts include network form of organisation and growth that is based on innovations. He comes to the conclusion that the most critical aspect in the development of the information society is the development of the deep-set structures of society - the development of technology will help only when it is combined with changes in the underlying structures.
He identifies ten major trends in the global development of the information society (including the new global division of labour, population ageing, increasing pressures on the welfare society, the rise of cultural industries, a deepening global divide, etc) and describes the problems of the three existing development scenarios: the "Silicon Valley model", i.e. the American neo-liberalist model, the "Singapore model", i.e. the Asian state-run model in which the objective is to attract multinational companies to the region, and the "Finnish model", i.e. the European combination of the information society and the welfare state.
There is also a fourth scenario, the "Himanen's model", which implies that it is possible to combine the welfare state and the information society also in the future if only we have courage to revise this model appropriately. The welfare state is best defended by those who speak for its reform through innovation by moving from a reactive to a proactive policy: we should no longer focus on reacting to something that has already happened, instead we should act beforehand and boldly lead the way.
According to Himanen, there are ten important values to serve as the basis for the continued combination of the welfare state and the information society: caring, confidence, communality, encouragement, freedom, creativity, courage, visionariness, balance, and meaningfulness. He apposes these values on the Maslow's pyramid of man's psychological needs.
In practice, if we are to meet global competition by implementing the above-mentioned development scenario and adopting the values described above for this scenario, we must take into account the following key concepts related to social development: a creative economy (for which the spearheads are a stronger IT sector, culture and welfare) with encouraging conditions for working, a creative welfare society (based on an inclusive and high-quality education and training system), humanly meaningful development (social balance, mental balance, physical balance, cultural balance), and a global culture (internationalisation of higher education, skilled labour with international experience, "brain circulation", global reciprocity, caring and sustainable development for both developing and developed countries).
Although Himanen's original report focused on the challenges related to the reform of the "Finnish model", the main ideas presented in the report apply more universally: the global development of the information society has reached a phase that requires new actions from us all. Value-based actions must be taken in order to respond to global trends. A successful reform requires value-based management.
Topic 2: Towards the Information Society
Study Theobald's question of 'mind-quake', find a real-life example and describe it.
Pick one of Handy's paradoxes, find a good real-life illustrative case and describe it.
Pick one of Castells' features of network society and write a short analysis.
These three may well be bound into a single blog post.
In Theobald's vision, the word "mindquakes" is formed as a parallel to "earthquakes". It is better if our shifts in thinking are small and frequent rather than large and catastrophic. All of us must become more competent at managing mindquakes. We must keep up with the pace of change - or the unpleasantness of the process increases dramatically. We must learn to turn the Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times" into a blessing. Although a number of real-life examples could be found, the closest I can personally relate to at this very moment is the shift from work-orientated life back to the work and study combination, which is more than capable of creating an exploding mindquake, unless a good time management plan and a sound reasoning why this is important for me is inculcated. The vast array of different master courses, from which each introduces new interesting methods and innovative applications to carry out homework, can drive you up the wall if faced all and too much at once. A wise suggestion, applied to almost anything we do in life, is also applicable here: start early, work gradually through the changing conditions, rather than confronting them extemporary and unprepared when it is already too much to handle.
Handy's paradox of time opposed to/compared to Castells' timeless time. According to Handy, "The application of modern technology means less time is needed to make and do things. People should have more spare time. But time has become a competitive weapon and getting things done quickly is imperative. As a result, many of those who work have less time than ever before." This is true. However, Castells (being a true Spaniard) knows time is relative and brings in the timeless time feature of network society: "Time and space are related in society as is nature and their meanings and manifestations in social practice evolve throughout histories and across cultures. The network society is organised around new forms of time and space: timeless time and the space of flows." In a networked society, time becomes relative (e.g. we can chat in real time with someone from the other side of the globe - they have morning while we have evening). This feature can be exploited in both personal and work-related time management issues. As one of my first jobs, I was employed at Hilton Reservations Worldwide - a call center for Hilton hotels across the world. Tallinn office operated from 8 am till midnight local time to answer the booking requests of many "timeless" travellers. Most of them had no idea they were talking to someone in Tallinn, Estonia while arriving at the airport of New York or Sydney, looking for a hotel to stay and calling on a local toll-free number. To conclude, it is necessary to realize that time, while being a competitive weapon for (international) businesses, is crucial. However, from a relative perspective of networked society, time has a whole new meaning. The present time gives us the advantages of new technology, time becomes relative, but at the same time, it confronts us with responsibilities. Taking responsibility comes with making decisions. It's up to each one of us to make this advantage work. Sometimes we also have to disconnect to connect: see a video on Youtube. Applying the paradox of time to personal life, I would like to quote Himanen: "Life is not totally serious - a moment of play can radically raise the effectiveness."
Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and wellbeing. Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world. Many of life's puzzles can be solved by simply understanding our own time perspective and that of others. People saying "I'm busier than I was last year" or "I sacrifice friends, family and sleep for my success" is no news to us. Stop! Rewind. When there is no time, we have to take time!
Topic 1: Ethics in Turbulent Times
Read Pekka Himanen's paper "Challenges of the Global Information Society" and write a blog review.
Originally prepared for the Finnish Parliament's Committee for the Future, Himanen's paper looks at the challenges to the global development of the information society and suggests one alternative for meeting these challenges: the model of the information society combined with the welfare state.
Himanen defines the idea of the information society as a creative society that is based on interaction. He emphasises that the most important to the information society is not new technology but a new way of doing things. From a theoretical perspective, the key concepts include network form of organisation and growth that is based on innovations. He comes to the conclusion that the most critical aspect in the development of the information society is the development of the deep-set structures of society - the development of technology will help only when it is combined with changes in the underlying structures.
He identifies ten major trends in the global development of the information society (including the new global division of labour, population ageing, increasing pressures on the welfare society, the rise of cultural industries, a deepening global divide, etc) and describes the problems of the three existing development scenarios: the "Silicon Valley model", i.e. the American neo-liberalist model, the "Singapore model", i.e. the Asian state-run model in which the objective is to attract multinational companies to the region, and the "Finnish model", i.e. the European combination of the information society and the welfare state.
There is also a fourth scenario, the "Himanen's model", which implies that it is possible to combine the welfare state and the information society also in the future if only we have courage to revise this model appropriately. The welfare state is best defended by those who speak for its reform through innovation by moving from a reactive to a proactive policy: we should no longer focus on reacting to something that has already happened, instead we should act beforehand and boldly lead the way.
According to Himanen, there are ten important values to serve as the basis for the continued combination of the welfare state and the information society: caring, confidence, communality, encouragement, freedom, creativity, courage, visionariness, balance, and meaningfulness. He apposes these values on the Maslow's pyramid of man's psychological needs.
Although Himanen's original report focused on the challenges related to the reform of the "Finnish model", the main ideas presented in the report apply more universally: the global development of the information society has reached a phase that requires new actions from us all. Value-based actions must be taken in order to respond to global trends. A successful reform requires value-based management.
Topic 2: Towards the Information Society
Study Theobald's question of 'mind-quake', find a real-life example and describe it.
Pick one of Handy's paradoxes, find a good real-life illustrative case and describe it.
Pick one of Castells' features of network society and write a short analysis.
These three may well be bound into a single blog post.
In Theobald's vision, the word "mindquakes" is formed as a parallel to "earthquakes". It is better if our shifts in thinking are small and frequent rather than large and catastrophic. All of us must become more competent at managing mindquakes. We must keep up with the pace of change - or the unpleasantness of the process increases dramatically. We must learn to turn the Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times" into a blessing. Although a number of real-life examples could be found, the closest I can personally relate to at this very moment is the shift from work-orientated life back to the work and study combination, which is more than capable of creating an exploding mindquake, unless a good time management plan and a sound reasoning why this is important for me is inculcated. The vast array of different master courses, from which each introduces new interesting methods and innovative applications to carry out homework, can drive you up the wall if faced all and too much at once. A wise suggestion, applied to almost anything we do in life, is also applicable here: start early, work gradually through the changing conditions, rather than confronting them extemporary and unprepared when it is already too much to handle.
Handy's paradox of time opposed to/compared to Castells' timeless time. According to Handy, "The application of modern technology means less time is needed to make and do things. People should have more spare time. But time has become a competitive weapon and getting things done quickly is imperative. As a result, many of those who work have less time than ever before." This is true. However, Castells (being a true Spaniard) knows time is relative and brings in the timeless time feature of network society: "Time and space are related in society as is nature and their meanings and manifestations in social practice evolve throughout histories and across cultures. The network society is organised around new forms of time and space: timeless time and the space of flows." In a networked society, time becomes relative (e.g. we can chat in real time with someone from the other side of the globe - they have morning while we have evening). This feature can be exploited in both personal and work-related time management issues. As one of my first jobs, I was employed at Hilton Reservations Worldwide - a call center for Hilton hotels across the world. Tallinn office operated from 8 am till midnight local time to answer the booking requests of many "timeless" travellers. Most of them had no idea they were talking to someone in Tallinn, Estonia while arriving at the airport of New York or Sydney, looking for a hotel to stay and calling on a local toll-free number. To conclude, it is necessary to realize that time, while being a competitive weapon for (international) businesses, is crucial. However, from a relative perspective of networked society, time has a whole new meaning. The present time gives us the advantages of new technology, time becomes relative, but at the same time, it confronts us with responsibilities. Taking responsibility comes with making decisions. It's up to each one of us to make this advantage work. Sometimes we also have to disconnect to connect: see a video on Youtube. Applying the paradox of time to personal life, I would like to quote Himanen: "Life is not totally serious - a moment of play can radically raise the effectiveness."
Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and wellbeing. Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world. Many of life's puzzles can be solved by simply understanding our own time perspective and that of others. People saying "I'm busier than I was last year" or "I sacrifice friends, family and sleep for my success" is no news to us. Stop! Rewind. When there is no time, we have to take time!
Monday, September 6, 2010
The first lecture
So, here I am, at the start of my year one of Tallinn University's (TLU) Interactive Media and Knowledge Environments (IMKE) master program.
Funnily enough my first lecture as a master student takes place on a beautifully sunny September Sunday. I don't think I've ever attended any scholar activities on Sundays before, apart from a few driving lessons about 10 years ago. Otherwise, Sundays are just meant for sleeping in!
Course: Project Management
Time: Sunday, 2:00-5:15 pm
Lecture 1
Next lecture Sunday, Sept 19
Homework
Funnily enough my first lecture as a master student takes place on a beautifully sunny September Sunday. I don't think I've ever attended any scholar activities on Sundays before, apart from a few driving lessons about 10 years ago. Otherwise, Sundays are just meant for sleeping in!
Course: Project Management
Time: Sunday, 2:00-5:15 pm
Lecture 1
Next lecture Sunday, Sept 19
Homework
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