Topic 5: Readings

Information Ecologies:

At first I struggled with the thought of an information ecology: How can something that is controlled by humans be an ‘equal’ ecology even taking into account dominant species? It was only when I deleted the imaginary line between human and machine that I was able to grasp this concept. What is important is important is the attitudes and perceptions of the people on the internet not the fact that humans could collectively shut down the internet on a whim. It is the attitudes of various groups of people on the internet that create the opposing forces in this ecology. It is these attitudes and technological advances (for example Napster) that are developing ‘ecology like’ and can be referred to as an information ecology. Short of shutting the internet down there is little that can be done to control the content. This means that a large number of various parties are influencing the evolution of the internet and communication sharing and fills the definition of an ‘Information Ecology’.

How might the metaphor of an ‘ecology’ impact on the way you think about, understand or use the Internet?

The term is clearly intended to carry the meaning that shows that the internet is developing without any particular plan or guideline and is evolving with each new dominant technology or attitude. Major sites such as Myspace; technologies like IRC and P2P; Leisure activities like Games; News sites, etc all act on this environment to evolve it a bit more with each passing day.

How are the concepts ‘information’ and ‘communication’ understood within the framework of an ‘information ecology’?

These are founding aspects as it is only through communication of information that attitudes and values that shape the internet are communicated. Without these there would be no ‘information ecology’ and the internet would cease to exist. By attacking the communication of information in the form of music the RIAA etc are attacking the founding laws and functions of the internet which is to communicate such things. It may be necessary to have some censorship of communication for societal goals (ie preventing child pornography) however lines must be drawn very carefully to avoid counter-productive censorship that would hinder this ‘ecology’. Arguing that it is a ‘ecology’ seems to indicate that it would be very difficult to shut these things down as resistance would come from within the ecology as we have seen in the example of P2P. As fast as the RIAA shuts down P2P networks and torrent sites (most recently torrentspy) more pop up to take their place.

Why don’t we talk of a ‘communication ecology’?

The term communication cuts the definition too narrowly. What is communicated is information and data without which the communication would be pointless. Communication itself is usually not enough to bring about a change or to influence the ‘ecology’ it is what is communicated that is crucial. It isn’t plain talking that has shaped the internet it is technologies and programs like Napster, Myspace, and games that have created this ecology.

Case Study: Peer to Peer

A main point where p2p has a great advantage over centralized distribution is in cost and bandwidth efficiency. By linking the individual nodes the host company eliminates the need for tremendous amounts of bandwidth that would otherwise be needed to support the level of data transfer and eliminates bottlenecks by avoiding a central distribution location. Costs of the network are also borne by the node (likely a home computer) itself. Modern p2p networks have gone from a ‘napster like’ distribution method utilizing a central server to a completely decentralized form which is virtually impossible to shut down.

First Generation P2P: Napster was a first generation p2p network as it used a centralized server to enable connections between nodes. Napster was quickly and relatively easily shut down by record companies as it maintained information on a central server.

Second Generation P2P: Gnutella was a second generation p2p network; however it quickly died due to bottlenecks as all the ‘napster refugees’ joined and overloaded the system. ‘Luckily’ the problem was resolved via FastTrack which allocated tasks to the servers allowing some to be used for indexing while others were used for transfers. Examples of 2nd Generation p2p are: Kazaa, eMule, and edonkey.

Third Generation P2P: 3rd generation p2p focused on anonymity which it achieved by routing information through numerous nodes making it hard to separate the downloader from the ‘innocent bystander’. This was a direct result of the increased threat from recording companies etc threatening to close p2p networks. Freenet, GNUnet, and Entropy are examples of 3rd generation p2p networks. They have not been as popular as 2nd generation p2p as they use much larger quantities of bandwidth due to excess routing of files.

Fourth Generation P2P: The evolution to fourth generation can be defined by a change from sharing of packets as previously to ‘streaming media’ directly from node to node and a ‘swarming’ structure is used. Bittorrent is the best example of a 4th generation p2p network . Bittorrent requires a ‘torrent’ file to be uploaded to the tracker which describes the contents and location of the file. Sections of the file are then sent out to all downloaders using swarming that actually increases the speed of transfer (to many nodes individual nodes see no benefit) as per the diagram below.

As we can see the nodes themselves pass on the portions they have already downloaded from the host to each other node ensuring there is virtually unlimited capacity for transfer compared with other network structures. Theoretically it should take roughly the same amount of time to transfer the file to 1 node as it should to transfer the file to 1000 nodes (not considering hardware problems or data loss). Bittorrent is an extremely efficient method of transferring files to a huge number of nodes virtually simultaneously and could (and has partially) been harnessed for legal distribution of files.

I have to disagree with the author of the article: ‘Playing our Song?’ http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/13257/page1/ on one point though. I am happy to find my music and get a ‘community spirit’ from other websites such as Lastfm.com or just general chat sites. What I can’t agree with is the various forms of DRM and copyright protection found on many of these ‘legally downloaded’ files. I simply don’t trust the company’s putting code in my music. Recently I owned a Sony mp3 player which automatically converted my mp3 music (naturally all legally acquired by ripping my cd’s) into ATRAC format. As I was travelling I left all my originals at home and when my computer crashed and needed to be formatted I found I was stuck with useless files that could only be played on my Sony Mp3. When I subsequently put my mp3 player through the washing machine I was left with completely useless files that I couldn’t play in any way shape or form. If I had purchased these files I would be exceptionally angry at the wasted money. This highlights the reason I refuse to ‘legally download’ music from sites such as iTunes as I don’t believe my music is safe from their prying hands post downloading.

After reading the article: P2P networking An information-sharing Alternative I have come to the conclusion that P2P’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Governments and companies / associations fear that users can communicate with each other and share unlimited amounts of information irrespective of attempted controls. The problem is that governments and for profit entities no longer are able to control media as people quickly and easily share anything they wish. As such they have lost the control they had over the people and their very existence is threatened. Being able to barter with someone from another country freely over the internet directly undermines the position and market that many of these entities control; the lack of policing also threatens them.

Preparing for the Future Shock:

It seems I am expected to speculate here as to what the future will bring… Actually I think the future will be very similar to what many movies already show us. The world will continue shrinking with increased travel speeds and efficiency, and data travel will speed up as well. Technologies such as mentally controlling computers and 3d screens are just around the corner with the first prototypes in production now. I think what will be the key issue for the future isn’t the increase in technology it’s the shrinking of the world. As cultures clash there is an increased possibility for wars etc. One of the primary conflict points is likely to be jurisdiction over the internet as countries are essentially forced to assimilate and joint governments / policing must be created. I think it’s inevitable that the internet will not remain as free as it is now as increasing cyber crime and cyber terrorism will necessitate a increasing police presence. Hopefully our freedom of speech will not be impaired in the process, and I personally hope that no excessively controlling country will be at the forefront of the new world.

Head Tracking
Projector tracking
3D TV

I think that the first four points really need not be discussed as they are givens. We will get faster and more portable broadband which will increasingly deliver high definition media. Increase security is also a byproduct of increased cyber crime and terrorism and will occur. Increasing AI is also a given, and I think robots will take over many human tasks. I think that it will have a negative impact on humanity. There is no need to show politeness or courtesy to a computer/robot and in the world where time is the only real commodity I can’t see people addressing computers with courtesy even if they are programmed to demand courtesy. This will likely lead to bad manners and weaken interpersonal relationships further damaging the family structure. As far as this semantic web has to go I think we have only seen the very beginning. The use of two codes one for human viewing and RDF inside html tags for machine viewing is I think a transitional procedure. Eventually I think ‘machine language’ will be used exclusively and computers and or robots will simply have a form of codec that will decode this language into a language people can understand on command. It will essentially be like Google on another level. Currently we command Google to find web pages containing keywords; In the future this will be done ‘intelligently’ rather than in a concrete keyword style. It may even skim through thousands of webpages relevant to the topic (with or without the specified keywords) and produce a referenced output presentation containing all valid arguments from these sites. I think for the ‘semantic web’ to truly become feasible; not only is a computer understood language necessary but AI must be significantly improved aswell.

Semantic Web Wikipedia

Assignment 1

Program Name: Internet Communications
Program Code: Net 11
Instructor: Cynthia Verspaget
__________________________________________________________
Assignment 1:
Concept 7: Netiquette
Concept 22: Public Space and Regulation
Concept 26: Privacy and Security
Concept 33: Information and Attention

__________________________________________________________

Student Name: Mr. Michael Bachmayer
Student No.: 13537779

Concept 7: Netiquette
________________________________________________________________________________

“Good communication practice on the Internet is not something one 'learns', but something one 'practices' so

as to teach others, less familiar than yourself, how it is done.”

Discussion and reflection:

People meeting on the internet are a social group as per the definition: ‘people sharing some social relation’ www.dictionary.com which is how they will be defined for this discussion. Every social group interacts along a basic set of social rules or norms that govern what is acceptable behavior and what is not Etzioni 2000. Because a social group is made up of constantly changing individuals and members entering and leaving the group the social rules that govern interaction and communication also change and are fluid and social norms change regularly Coleman 1990 . Because of this, members who have been in a social group longer must pass these values on to new members of the group.

The internet comprises of many differing groups and each has a different set of values and social norms. For example: discussions on the discussions page of the Net11 subject are expected to be of an academic standard and comply with university standards. Flame wares would be completely unacceptable, profanity would be frowned on, as would non-relevant discussion. On the other hand, the ‘news site’ I have been investigating www.shoutwire.com prides itself on free speech and largely user moderated news stories that are moderated via ‘shouts’ and ‘bashes’ similar to www.Digg.com. In this user moderated environment profanity is closer to being the rule than the exception, flame wars are often encouraged, and offensive material is regularly posted and must be expected. People are expected to NOT mince their words to make them acceptable but say precisely what they think. IMVU or SecondLife on the other hand abide by a different set of rules again. The focus is far less on serious discussion and tends to be more light hearted and flirty. In my experience serious discussion is largely unpopular on these sites.

Given the size of the groups and often limited and brief interactions between individual members it is unlikely that one senior member will come together with one junior member to pass on the groups values. The junior member is far more likely to learn from the general behavior of the group or by watching other member’s behavior. In this way every small action from existing members may help to form the netiquette guidelines the new member will follow.

The rules that define appropriate conduct within a social group are constantly changing due to the members changing and the composition of membership changing. Therefore the rules governing that social group must also constantly change. As the internet allows access to an unlimited amount of social groups with different members, values, and social norms; the rules as to what is good netiquette must also be different for each group. It is impossible to learn a universal code of conduct that will apply to every group. The groups’ values and ethics are passed on from senior members of the group to newer members and is the process referred to in the topic quote. (490 words)

Further Reading: Concept 7 Netiquette
_________________________________________________________________________
Site Title: Netiquette Guidelines
Site Link: www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt

This site provides a simple guide to general netiquette rules for beginners and is useful in that it provides a simple set of rules for behaviour. Netiquette is about social interactions regulated by social norms so it is useful to have a general list of suggested behavior as a starting point used to base internet behavior. The intended result of this site is to introduce new users to the internet culture and values. The site is owned by the ‘Internet Engineering Task Force’ which is non-profit organization intended to assist in creating and provide internet standards indicating it should be a credible site.

Site Title: Net Etiquette
Site Link: www.albion.com/netiquette/book/index.html

While the previous site provides a good overview and introduction to the basics of the topic this site delves much deeper into theoretical aspects and concepts of netiquette. It considers netiquette not as a rigid structure as does the first site but as an evolving concept that is bound to change and evolve based on the users in a particular group. It also considers that groups have differing rules and there is not one single ‘netiquette’ guideline that is appropriate for all situations on the internet. This site is therefore a good contrast to the first site provided and builds on the knowledge shown in the first site. The author has received considerable media attention for her netiquette guidelines and would be considered a respectable source.

Concept 22: Public Space and Regulation
____________________________________________________________________________

“Advanced Internet users are alert to regulatory processes in public discussion and ensure that they do not break them without good cause”

Discussion and Reflection:

Definition of Social Norms:
“The rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit. Failure to stick to the rules can result in severe punishments, the most feared of which is exclusion from the group.” (ChangingMinds.org 2008)

This seems to imply that a social group will moderate itself by ostracizing those who act inappropriately. Cranor (1995) suggests that on the internet social regulation is far more predominant than legal regulation. An example of such censorship can be seen when a user posts offensive content (to the group) and then is immediately bombarded with angry responses. The result of these responses is to harass the poster to the extent that they do not post similar content again or to ostracize them from the group entirely.

However, strict application of social norms to regulate behavior is becoming weakened by several trends and forces. One of these forces is the advent of ‘Trolls’ and ‘Trolling’ on the internet. Trolls are people who specifically make comments that go against social norms in order to elicit angry responses (Schwartz 2008). The aim of a troll is to make as many people angry as possible for ‘lulz’ (defined as the joy of disrupting another person’s equilibrium – at expense of their pain) (Schwartz 2008). The other force that prevents efficient social regulation is the anonymity of the internet (Brooks et al 1997). A clear example of this is www.4chan.org which allows users to post completely anonymous messages and thus is a haven for offensive content. The user is safe in knowing that nobody else will know who they are the next time they post and so have no fear of being ostracized from the group. Due to this anonymity; extremist views, terrorist threats, etc are regularly posted on 4chan (Smith 2008). In an anonymous environment (such as the internet) containing parties that deliberately go against social norms the use of social norms to regulate behavior is weakened.

The Interviews:

I interviewed the two of the three site operators of www.shoutwire.com and asked several questions regarding their views of censorship on ShoutWire. Their views had a definite inclination towards liberal relatively unregulated content. Both interviewees differentiated between submitted items (pictures, articles, essays) and comments. The consensus was that submitted items needed some censorship while comments should be uncensored. They also believed that excessive censorship would have a negative impact on the site, while they had mixed views on whether user’s moderated themselves via social norms as suggested in the previous paragraph. Interestingly one of the editors pointed out that not enough censorship led from pressure from advertisers and the current owner Tuberoo (Appendices I & II). Although the moderators in this instance have great powers ranging from deleting content to banning users as per the site guidelines (Shoutwire 2008) the moderators were loath to use these powers except for extreme circumstances (Appendices I & II). The conclusion I draw from this is that the users of the website www.shoutwire.com expect largely uncensored content and excess censorship would have some form of negative financial result, while excess freedom gives advertisers and the publicly listed holding company concerns.

Internet users need to be aware of the rules that apply to the public communication they undertake. These rules are social norms and also moderator enforced rules. Breaking these rules can lead to the user being shunned or ostracized by other users or even banned by a moderator. I agree with the topic statement. (579 words)

Further Reading: Concept 22 Public Space and Regulation
________________________________________________________________________

Site Title: Social Interaction on the Internet
Site Link: http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/soc/courses/soc4j3/stuweb/cyber9/front.htm

This website examines the social implications that the new technology of the internet brings. The internet changes people’s social interactions drastically due to the ease and distance that can be covered by the communication. The authors then go on to discuss specific features of the changing social interactions and characteristics that make the internet environment different and influence communications. ‘Anonymity’, ‘Privacy’, and ‘Flaming’ are specifically examined for social consequences. This site is on a university server and written by academic’s. It is both highly relevant and reliable.

Site Title: Internet Censorship: Law & Policy around the world
Site Link: http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens3.html

This website looks at internet censorship around the world and the laws and regulations pertaining to content. These laws and regulations flow on to the sites and domains that are located within jurisdictions, however are difficult to enforce in other regions. It examines specific characteristics of several countries legal requirements and censorship powers and compares these with other countries. This site is relevant to the topic as it discusses the legal environment that a internet user becomes a part of by using the site registered within the countries jurisdiction. The site is published by a non-profit organization that provides the Australian Government with advice regarding new censorship laws.

Concept 26: Privacy and Security
______________________________________________________________________________

“The Internet is a profoundly ‘open’ system and advanced Internet users are cautious about either accepting or sending material from and to unknown sources and are careful in releasing information about themselves in any form. Conceptually, the Internet challenges us to take greater responsibility for the protection of privacy and security than perhaps we are used to when dealing with the media.”

Discussion and reflection:

Cyber Crime is rapidly increasing with a increase of 20% in the last quarter of 2005 (Cassovoy 2005). Hackers are now largely not the stereotypical pimply student seeking notoriety, but are now more likely to be well funded gangs operating to a strict plan. Better funding and planning means that users have to fend off ever more devious attacks (Cassovoy 2005).
Due to the rise of cybercrime and constant new threats in the form of virus’s, trojans, adware, spam, phishing, hacking, etc have cause alert internet users to be far more cautious on the internet. This has caused a proliferation of protection tools available to easily ensure anonymity and privacy on the internet. Several of these are listed below:

Hide my Ip (www.hide-my-ip.com)
This is a tool that hides the ip of the computer being used on the internet. Hiding the ip has several benefits. A simple packet sniffer being used by a hacker could easily discover large amounts of information including security weaknesses on the computer. Randomizing the ip provides some level of protection against this threat (Boswell 2007).

Hide Search Habits
There are a few simple ways to hide your search history. Browser history should be clear regularly along with cookies and Cached files stored by the browser. Other simple tricks are to use a proxy when searching and avoid registering for sites. If a site requires registration either us bugmenot (www.bugmenot.com) or register using a false email that contains false personal details (Boswell 2007).
Several basic programs that greatly increase internet security (sorted by their function) are:

• Anti spyware programs: Spyware is a collective term for programs installed on the user’s computer without their permission that track the users activities (Lavasoft 2008) . This poses an obvious security risk. The easiest way to combat this threat is to use a free spyware removal tool such as Spybot S&D or Adaware

• Firewall: There are two kinds of firewall. Hardware based and Software based. Ideally both should be used a software based firewall and a hardware based firewall (Microsoft 2008). The easiest way to get a hardware based firewall is to use a router to access the internet.

• Antivirus: A program for protecting the computer from viruses which will automatically isolate infected files and delete the malicious code.

• A hard drive eraser such as ‘Windows and Internet Washer’ When files are deleted from the computer only the header is removed making it possible to recover the data. This program removes tracks of browsing and automatically clears cache etc while making it harder for a unauthorized person to retrieve deleted files.

Security is more important than ever with an ever increasing amount of virus and threats. Constantly changing technology also means that it is vital to have up to date security to keep up with the constantly changing threats (Fisher 2005).
The programs and measures listed are easy to use and adopt and will increase internet security exponentially. Due to constant new threats the internet users face a challenge in staying ahead of security loopholes. The discerning internet user takes appropriate precautions to avoid the security risks listed. (529 words)

Further Reading: Concept 26 Privacy and Security
_____________________________________________________________________________
Site Title: Phishing, Spoofing, Spam, Hacking, Spyware, Identity Theft, Cyber Scams and Computer Hoaxes
Site Link:
www.azdoa.gov/isd/ais/viruses-and-hoax-alert-warnings

This site lists out many of the threats faced by everyday users on the internet along with a description of what they are and symptoms by which they can be spotted. The information contained is both easy to understand and contains advanced definitions serving as a great starting point for the discussion on internet security. It is published by a government department signifying it is a reliable resource and also links to other relevant sites. It also presents practical advice on how to avoid these security problems and protect against future attacks.

Site Title: Home Computer Security
Site Link:
http://www.cert.org/homeusers/HomeComputerSecurity

This site is highly relevant and provides detailed information regarding every aspect of computer security. It describes safety measures computer users can use without installing software such as: ensuring personal information is not disclosed, and by examining the psyche for weaknesses in the ‘person’ rather than the system. It then goes on to examine system weaknesses and methods used to overcome these weaknesses such as firewalls and antivirus programs. An analysis is carried out on usefulness of these programs and step by step instructions are provided for maintaining maximum security. The site is published CERT which is a non-profit organization within Carnegie-Mellon University indicating the site is a reputable source.

Concept 33: Information and Attention
_____________________________________________________________________________

“In the era of the ‘attention economy’, readers and users of Internet information must be carefully craft, in their own minds, the kind of metadata which will – almost instinctively – ‘fit’ with the metadata of the information sources they want, so that – in the few brief moments of initial exchange, when a seeker of information encounters information being sought, rapid, effective judgments are made that ‘pay off’ in terms of further reading, accessing and saving.”

Discussion and reflection:

In ‘The attention economy and the net’ (Goldhaber 1997) suggests that the new environment of the internet is introducing us to a new form of economics – namely the attention economy. The internet contains fast amounts of information that we could not possibly hope to interpret due to sheer size and location. Due to this excess of information, (Goldhaber 1997) argues that the one thing that is becoming scarce is not information as in the past but our attention and time to absorb this information. Attention is limited as there is only so much attention a person can give to the internet. The bounds of attention are the time available for ‘net surfing’ and also the interests of the user. Unfortunately most people can only focus on one or two things at a time so this attention can be very limited. When a website is able to capture a persons’ attention then it could be considered to be successful to a degree as it was able to control a part of a limited resource that a large number of other sites failed to do.

The internet user is bombarded by incredible amounts of information in the way of websites, news feeds, advertising, spam, and many other things on the internet. It could be argued that as we cannot decipher all this information at once our minds must learn to differentiate between desired information and irrelevant information. This arguably changes the browsing habits of users to skim reading (Iskold 2007). However, numerous authors suggest there is a change going on in the way our minds function. This is seen in the change in our attention from full concentration on one item to partial concentration on many different things (Iskold 2007). This would suggest that the topic statement is at least partially incorrect as the users habits are formed subconsciously and it is not so much the user who ‘chooses to skim read and pick up select relevant information’ as ‘the users attention is shorter forcing them to skim read and if the information is relevant and stands out it will catch their eye’. In either case the information that the user picks up is relevant and attention catching.

Alex Iskold (2007) suggests that the key to holding the users attention is for websites to contain content relevant to the user. The websites providing the data need to advertise their data to the internet user to allow the user to choose the site over the thousands of other search results. Due to the large volumes of information available it is vital that the resource descriptions are adequate and allow efficient discovery of the resource. This means the proper use of metadata to allow the site to be discovered by search engines is crucial to attracting hits and a good position on search engine results (Safari 2004). It is this metadata that allows the internet user to search and retrieve information.
Due to our limited attention and the need to select an appropriate website from thousands of other hits; it is necessary to use appropriate keywords to assist the search. It is vital that correct keywords are used to search the metadata listed on search engines to provide relevant results. Essentially the user finding relevant internet sites boils down to several keywords in the metadata of the website that the person searching used to find the site. (533 words)

Further Reading: Concept 33 Information and Attention
_________________________________________________________________________________

Site Title: The Attention Economy and the Net
Site Link:
www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_4/goldhaber/
This site discusses what is termed ‘the attention economy’ which refers to the concept that the most valuable thing on the internet is the attention of the internet users. The article describes the characteristics of this ‘attention economy’ and how to make it monetary. To know the fundamentals of this attention economy is crucial to effectively advertising the site and having the site listed highly on search engines. The attention economy is crucial to the discussion of internet user browsing habits, conscious and subconscious browsing habits and is relevant to this discussion.

Site Title: Continuous Partial Attention
Site Link:
www.readwriteweb.com/archives/continuous_partial_attention.php

Alex Iskold discusses the shrinking attention span of internet users in this article. It is relevant to the topic as it discusses many of the key issues that internet users face and key characteristics of internet users behavior on the internet. As sites must cater for users; shrinking attention spans directly influence how sites advertise themselves and the content. This article provides much background information to explaining how and why internet users act the way they do and is relevant to this topic. Although the site (readwriteweb) is a public site the author of the article has the relevant industry experience and qualifications.

References
_____________________________________________________________________________

Arizona Department of Administration. (2008). Phishing, Spoofing, Spam, Hacking, Spyware, Identity Theft, Cyber Scams, and Computer Hoaxes. Retrieved August 3, 2008, from, http://www.azdoa.gov/isd/ais/viruses-and-hoax-alert-warnings

Boswell, W. (2007). 7 Ways to Hide your Online Identity. Retrieved August 2, 2008, from http://websearch.about.com/od/anonymoussurfingsafety/tp/hideandseek.htm

Brooks, E., Heyman, N. & Pyon, J. (1997). Social Interaction on the internet: An Application of Erving Goffman’s Sociological Theories. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from h http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/soc/courses/soc4j3/stuweb/cyber9/front.htm

Cassavoy, L. (2005). Web of Crime: Internet Gangs Go Global. Retrieved July 25, 2008, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/122242/web_of_crime_internet_gangs_go_global.html

ChangingMinds.org. (2008). Social Norms: Description. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/social_norms.htm

Coleman, J. (1990). Foundations of Social Theory. Retrieved July 25, 2008, from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=a4Dl8tiX4b8C&dq=Foundations+of+Social+Theory&pg=PP1&ots=qA_vZ-NZHg&sig=isRrXzpxIFolbI-0Z8FQOtRoXGE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP1,M1

Cranor, L. (1995). It shouldn’t be allowed. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds2-2/lorrie.html

Dictionary.com. (2008). Social Group. Retrieved July 19, 2008, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social%20group

Electronic Frontiers Australia. (2002). Internet Censorship: Law & Policy around the world. Retrieved August 2, 2008, from http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens3.html

Etzioni, A. (2000). Social Norms: Internalization, Persuasion, and History. Law & Society Review, Vol 34, No. 1 (2000), 157-178. Retrieved July 19, 2008, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3757/is_200001/ai_n8898934

Fisher, D. (2005). New Virus Attack Technique Bypasses Filters. Retrieved July 27, 2008, from http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/New-Virus-Attack-Technique-Bypasses-Filters/

Goldhabor, M, (1997). The Attention Economy and the Net. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_4/goldhaber/

Hambridge, S. (1995). RFC 1855: Netiquette Guidelines. Retrieved July 19, 2008, from
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt

Iskold, A. (2007). Continuous Partial Attention: Software & Solutions. Retrieved July 29, 2008, from http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/continuous_partial_attention.php

Lavasoft. (2008). Glossary. Retrieved August 2, 2008, from http://lavasoft.com/support/spywareeducationcenter/spyware_glossary.php#Spyware

Safari, M. (2004). Metadata and the web. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://www.webology.ir/2004/v1n2/a7.html

Schwartz, M. (2008). Malwebolence. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?_r=3&ei=5058&partner=IWON&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Shea, V. (2004). Netiquette Contents. Retrieved July 19, 2008, from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/index.html

Shoutwire. (2008). Shoutwire Official Guidelines. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from http://www.shoutwire.com/guideline

Smith, D. (2008). The 20 year old at the heart of the webs most anarchic and influential site. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from, http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jul/20/internet.google

Software Engineering Institute. (2008) Home Computer Security. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://www.cert.org/homeusers/HomeComputerSecurity/

Appendix 1:
Interview with Bulshoy, a Senior Site Operator of www.ShoutWire.com which is a commercial site similar to www.digg.com which allows users to submit content. It is owned by Tuberoo.


M -- Michael (Interviewer)
B -- Bulshoy (Interviewee)

M: Hello Bulshoy! I am working on an assignment for my university about censorship and I’d like to ask your views on censorship and ShoutWire.
B: Yeah! Why not?
M: Thank you very much. How would you describe your views on censorship liberal - regulated or in between?
B: Realize that these are personal views that do not necessarily reflect SW or site policy
M: Of course, but as one of the three main enforcers your views will be carried out on the site
B: In between; but leaning heavily toward the liberal side
M: ok
B: There are some things that I'd prefer be left off of the site
B: So that people from all walks of life will feel welcome
B: and advertisers and partners will not offend their userbase
M: I see... please all parties
M: what do you think would be the result of excess censorship on shoutwire?
B: Excess censorship on SW would ruin the SW experience
B: Users should be welcome to leave any comment that they like
M: So people would leave?
B: Not necessarily
B: but the site would lose some of its appeal
M: That makes sense
B: Lack of censorship is a founding principle of ShoutWire
B: and I’d be betraying that principle if I began censoring
B: still, some things are censored
B: extreme hate speech being one of them
M: Ok do you think shoutwire censors itself to any extent without your assistance?
B: Some of the more sane/serious members do members
B: Zero's editorial yesterday is a great case study
B: The internet being the internet though...
B: Some users approve of taboo articles, just because they can
B: It's like a form of rebellion I guess
M: So essentially you would say that the users would NOT regulate content and without your intervention there might be all sorts of stuff on ShoutWire?
B: That's a pretty blanket statement
B: They wouldn't regulate comment content although they may regulate submitted content (ie pictures etc)
B: We have policies in place to prevent racist comments, etc
B: But they are rarely exercised
B: I get maybe one racist comment per month
B: So I guess the site does regulate itself to an extent
B: You know that people can pretty much say whatever they want
B: and we've gotten in trouble because of it
M: Who from Tuberoo?
B: Yeah from Tuberoo
B: and we've lost our feed on other sites
B: and a user storms out in disgust every now and then
M: arrh so the advertisers spit the dummy
B: Remember that Tuberoo is publically traded
B: and some shareholders check out ShoutWire
M: Thanks for your time

Appendix 2:
Interview with Zero, a Senior Site Operator of ShoutWire

M -- Michael (Interviewer)
Z -- Zero (Interviewee)

M: Hello Zero! I am doing an assignment for my university about censorship and I just interviewed ‘bulshoy’. Could I ask you some questions?

Z: Sure.

M: Thank you very much.
M: How would you describe your views on censorship -- liberal; regulated or in between leaning to one side?
Z: Free and open speech is what I believe in
Z: We should be able to say whatever we want if we can handle the consequences
M: How about content?
Z: Content needs to be moderated whereas comments should not
M: but you would still lean towards liberal concerning content censorship?
Z: Depends on what it is trying to censor
Z: Spam and weak three sentence links should go
M: What do you think would be the result of excess censorship on ShoutWire?
Z: I would start to fire people
M: lol, I mean what would be the result on the users
Z: ShoutWire would die
Z: No one would want to go there
M: Do you think that SW socially regulates itself. ie if objectionable content was posted would the other users be able to regulate the content with peer pressure exerted on the poster?
Z: I have seen it happen
Z: Plus, that’s what the voting system is about
Z: That’s the whole point behind shouting; to weed out all the rubbish and only good stuff on the front page.The only thing we should take down is spam
M: But some operator censorship is first required to make the whole system work? ie to remove spam etc
Z: ShoutWire just needs cleanup, not censorship
M: I see so: comments uncensored, Content (rubbish weeded out) and other than that essentially no form of operator moderation or censorship is basically your view?
Z: Pretty much, like the wild wild west
Z: ShoutWire is supposed to be lawless
M: Cool, thanks for your time.

Topic 4 Tasks

Programs I downloaded for topic 4:
The first program I decided to try was bookmark buddy. It’s a great idea to have a program to help manage bookmarks. However I think the program has to be intuitive and easy to use with ‘drag and drop’ an absolute must for any current program. This program ‘bookmark buddy’ frustrated the hell out of me and I found it to not be intuitively designed at all. On the bright side it did encourage me to arrange my bookmarks in an orderly fashion – so I went to the firefox ‘organize bookmark’s’ option and arranged them how I wanted in less than two minutes.
The suggested other programs such as flash and shockwave players, media players, adobe, etc are all programs I already use frequently.
Both the links: ‘Using Web Search Tools’ and ‘Specialised Databases’ are out of date and no longer effective. As an Alternative I visited: www.monash.com/spidap.html which is a guide to using search engines.


How Search engines work:
Metatags are used differently by many different search engines. Some search engines rely heavily on metatags while others like Google don’t use them at all. Having the right keywords in the header for your webpage will assist in achieving a desirable position on search engines that index meta tags. In order to receive as many hits as possible you should use different meta tags on each page of your website.
Search engines use programs called web crawlers to maintain updated lists of sites. These programs methodically search the web looking for new and updated pages. They do this by searching through domains and sites. They usually start by visiting a existing list of URL’s called seeds. They identify any hyperlinks on the website follows these and adds them to them URL list.
There are three characteristics of the World Wide Web that make it difficult to maintain the URL list.

These are:
• The huge size of the internet
• Rapidly changing sites and addresses
• Dynamic page generation

A study by Lawrence and Giles (2000) suggests that no website indexes more than 16% of the internet due to the sheer bulk of the internet (Wikipedia 2008) which suggests that no single search engine will provide all possible relevant results. Another weakness is that crawlers may only search HTML headers and avoid all other header types potentially missing out many relevant sites.


Search Engine Task:
The other program I downloaded was ‘Copernic Agent Basic’ which is software designed to search multiple search engines at once. The words I searched for were ‘Silat Perisai Diri’ which is a martial art. It is quite uncommon and would thus provide a suitable challenge to this ‘super search software’. I got 29 results using Copernic of which around 27 were relevant. When I typed the same phrase into Google however I received pages and pages of responses. Considering that a lot of things Google turns up is irrelevant I went to the next two pages of the Google results and they still seemed to be pretty relevant. This is when I noticed that it is possible to select the amount or results from each search engine. When I increased the maximum amount suddenly I had many more results. On the whole it seems to be a useful program for finding the most relevant links however I feel strangely disconcerted that Google is not one of the search engines searched.





Something interesting I found was the position of the two Youtube videos. Using the Google search they are ranked fourth and fifth most relevant while they don’t show up at all on Copernic. Intrigued I proceeded to view the page source code and discovered that all the pages listed in the top five of both Copernic and Google had all three keywords in the header. The first Youtube video shown on Copernic came in at position twenty. I also noticed that the first ten results from Copernic had at least one of the key words in the URL address. This may have something to do with the ordering of results in Copernic. As all the top ranked results had the keywords in their header it seems that meta tags are vital for both Copernic and Google and having the right keywords in meta tags will result in the highest hits. I would suggest that based on Copernic using multiple search engines it would search a larger amount of the web than Google. It also seems to position the results more logically for academic purposes while Google places Youtube videos high on the list of results. I would probably try both if looking for academic material but have a higher expectation of Copernic. Google on the other hand would be my first choice for general ‘stuff’ that might include videos or other sources.

Boolean Searches:
‘or’ – This searches for one or the other keyword or both keywords together in the same document. The more keywords entered using ‘or’ logic the larger the amount of results that will be found.
‘and’ – This provides results containing only pages with both keywords. The more keywords entered using ‘and’ logic the smaller the number of outputs will be.
‘not’ – This provides only pages containing one of keywords that deliberately avoids showing websites that contain the second keyword.
We return now to my trusty search term: ‘Silat Perisai Diri’. Google was used for this experiment.

Silat or Perisai or Diri = 26,600,000 results. After the third site the sites became rather unrelated so I modified the search to only show websites showing all the keywords.

Silat and Perisai and Diri = 11,600 results

Silat and Perisai and Diri and PD= 3280 results

I decided this was still too many so I modified my search to exclude Penjak / Pencak Silat from the searches as this is a different style. Therefore I modified my search to:

Silat “perisai diri” OR PD –Penjak –Pencak = 37,800 results

The conclusion I have reached is that it is not necessarily advantageous to limit the search terms too much. When I used the not Boolean (- sign in google) the results missed many useful pages simply because they mentioned the parent martial art. In my view the most useful result was returned using the following:
Silat “Perisai Diri” OR PD.

This returned the result equivalent to Silat AND (‘Perisai Diri’ OR PD) with the brackets being searched first. This resulted in 56,300 results. I randomly skipped to page six of the results and found that most of the results even on page six were relevant.

Google uses implied Boolean search terms with an easy to fill out template found under ‘advanced search’. It doesn’t however allow you to enter more than three ‘OR’ terms however these can be added by simply including OR between additional keywords.
Organising search information task:

URL: www.silatpd.org
AUTHOR: Perisai Diri Kommisariat Australia
INSTITUTION: Perisai Diri Kommisariat Australia
BLURB/SUMMARY: Perisai Diri or 'the shield of oneself' originated in Indonesia. Pencak Silat is a family of martial arts found in the archipelagos of Indonesia.
Perisai Diri or PD has been in Australia for approximately 25 years. Perisai Diri can be trained effectively without acquiring injury due to its unique training methods. These methods aim to encourage friendship and minimise injury. (www.silatpd.org 2008)


URL: www.perisaidiri.com
AUTHOR: Silat PD United Kingdom
INSTITUTION: Silat Pd United Kingdom
BLURB/SUMMARY: “Silat is the ancient Indonesian art of self-defence ― a tradition with extraordinary subtlety, depth, and power.
Founded by the late grandmaster Bapak RMS Dirdjoatmodjo, Perisai Diri (literally ‘shield of oneself’) is a synthesis of many silat styles that seeks the essence of the art. Each self-defence form, each block or punch, has layers of nuance and meaning.
Our teaching method is specially designed for the use and benefit of men, women and children of all ages and levels of fitness, from all walks of life.
Those who dip their toe into this art will develop health, balance and a sense of well-being, naturally, effectively and without injury.
Those who immerse themselves completely will develop hidden resources of self-protection, physical fitness, inner confidence, and spiritual harmony.” (www.perisaidiri.com 2008)

URL: www.silatpd.usa.com
AUTHOR: Silat PD USA
INSTITUTION: Silat PD USA
BLURB/SUMMARY: This website is the homepage of Silat PD USA. It has a message board for all Silat PD lovers and attracts comments from around the world. The head of Silat PD USA Mas Yana also uses the site to describe several techniques of Silat PD and to market his self Authored books and discussion forums / seminars. One of the key functions of Silat PD is to learn from each other and share knowledge with each other; this website serves as a hub to enable this communication. (www.silatpdusa.com 2008)

I recorded this information using Microsoft word 2007. The information was found using Google and visited using firefox 3.0. I also added the links into my firefox bookmarks in a folder I created called: ‘PD’ for future reference.


Evaluating Web Search Results
As the specified webpage was unavailable I Googled the keywords ‘evaluating websites’ and chose the following site as the most relevant result: www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html
I will use evaluation criteria from this site to evaluate: www.silatpd.org/.

What does the URL tell you?
The url domain(.org) tells me that this site is registered as belonging to an non-profit organization. It also doesn’t appear to be a personal page due to the short concise address with no funny symbols like ~ that would indicate that it may be a personal site.

Is it published by a company that makes sense?
The website is published by the ‘Perisai Diri Kommisariat Australia’. As this is the official organization teaching Silat PD in Australia it seems reasonable that they may make a website promoting their goals.

Look for links on perimeters including such things as: ‘about us’, ‘last modified’ etc
There is an extensive ‘about us’ section on this site describing the history of the martial art, the organization, and the organization in Australia. There are also numerous newsletters offered with the most recent being ‘March 2008’. It would appear that the website is both legitimate and regularly maintained. The page is unfortunately not dated however the information it contains is not likely to rapidly go ‘out of date’ as it’s a traditional style which is virtually unchanged since 1955.

Who wrote the page? What are their credentials?
It was written on behalf of the Perisai Diri Kommisariat Australia and they have the authority and credentials to write about the subject as they head the Australian organization.

Evaluate website using Alexa
The website: www.silatpd.org has a rating of 6,160,574 which is very low. Other ratings provided by alexa are also very limited as the website is outside of the top 100,000 websites and only the top 100,000 websites have detailed information provided. If this was an academic source or large organization this would be of concern; however, considering that there is approximately 100 members in Australia and that it is an obscure and unpopular martial art these ratings are to be expected.

Does it all add up?
Yes. The domain, author, authorizing organization, web links, Alexa rating etc are all precisely as would be expected given the nature of the organization and the website.

Which measures are you likely to use in the future?
I think that most of the things listed are things I have intuitively learnt to search for to verify a websites authority. One of the key things I will use in the future is to examine the web address and just generally ‘notice’ when something expected is missing from the page. When something is missing it usually tends to glare into my eyes. Other aspects are required for academic reasons such as modified date so I will also notice these details.

Topic 4 Reflection

The discussion now turns to programs that we download from the net. Key examples of programs that I download regularly (along with each format) are: Adobe, Java runtime environment, Spybot S&D, Avast Antivirus, Quick time alternative, Real Alternative… the list goes on. All of these programs are available either in free version or unlimited trial version. Several of the program like Quick and Real alternative have been written by independent programmers to replace the horrid programs: Quicktime and Realplayer. These programs come bundled with a huge amount of rubbish / useless features or advertising making them unfriendly to my computer (or vice versa). This is a key example of the advantages brought by a ‘free’ world wide web as opposed to a monopolized one. Arguably such programs cut down revenues of the company producing the original product and may limit research and development but I would argue the opposite as people are obviously motivated enough to make alternatives when there becomes a need.

Pdf:
This format was released in its first form by adobe in 1993 as a OS independent file form for transferring files. It had a slow uptake due to size of pdf files being larger than normal text files. However pdf has now gained widespread acceptance and recognition and is a commonly used format providing some features over text files such as allowing the file to be ‘locked’ preventing copying.
Flash/Shockwave

More recently flash has allowed users to not only view complicated moving images (such as gifs) but also interact with them. On my travels on the web I have even found a ‘world of warcraft’ flash game which allows the player to complete a mission in exactly the same manner as they would playing WOW. Flash and shockwave animations have greatly increased peoples experiences on the web by immersing them in interactive content.

Java
This was originally developed for purposes other than the internet but soon became very popular. It allows programmers to write in one code (java) that functions across platforms. Other advantages of java are that it is small and freely available due to it being ‘open source’. It is quite secure and can be configured for additional security making it very popular among program coders.

Video:
As mentioned previously I far prefer quicktime and real alternative. These are small efficient programs that run in media player classic (also free with windows) and free from advertising and rubbish. However these are by no means sufficient for video formats encountered on the web. Three other notable formats I would mention are: Divx, Xvid, and Matroska. These are called ‘codecs’ meaning: ‘compressor-decompressor’. Alternate definitions have been put forward. However they have essentially the same meaning with slightly different wording. A codec allows video to be compressed into an encoded file that is smaller than the original file. However this compressed file needs a codec to decompress it again for viewing. The whole point of this exercise is simply to create smaller files for transfer between computers or a website and a computer.

DivX: This codec was rapidly popularized from 1998 to 2003 by dvd ripping and movie sharing making it one of the most popular codecs available (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divx). Later Divx players (divx format compatible dvd players) were released increasing its popularity.

Xvid: A more recent competitor which is now the primary competitor to the Divx codec. Xvid is however freely available under GNU general public license making it more popular than Divx.

Matroska: The most recent codec (that I’m discussing) it started development in 2002. Acceptance was slow with it first gaining foothold in the anime industry due to its ability to ‘hold’ multiple language and subtitle tracks. It is open source software that is currently becoming ever more popular for audio and video files.

The Deep web
This speaks of information that cannot be found from the usual search engines such as yahoo, google etc. It is also called the invisible web, or the hidden web as ‘its’ information is not accessible via search engines. This information is typically found on websites that aren’t registered with a search engine or is kept in a database that the search engine cant ‘see’. This may be due to either the type of document the information is contained on (for example in the middle of a table or spreadsheet) or it may be behind a security barrier such as password protection. It is estimated that there is approximately 7500 terabytes of this hidden data (wikipedia 2008).

Evaluating data
This is one of the most crucial skills necessary on the internet. While there is much data available on the net there is much less that could be associated with a reputable source. For example, when I argue a topic on shoutwire or write a editorial it is crucial to use reputable sources. Basing your opinion on somebody else’s opinion will result in you being torn to shreds in seconds as others criticize your unfounded writing. Naturally this also applies to university where a higher standard of sources is expected to back up a opinion. The first step I always do when evaluating data is to look at the web address. If the address reads: www.microsoft.com it is a safe assumption that the website is actually Microsoft and that the opinions stated are those of the Microsoft corporation or author affiliated with it. If the address says something like www.blogspot.microsft.com then this immediately should raise suspicions as to its authenticity. Another point is to check the ending three letters of a URL. Common endings include:

.edu (educational such as school or university however may also contain student pages)
.gov (government)
.com (commercial)
.net (commercial)
.org (organization)

The country it is registered in is often also visible using two letters such as: .au (Australia) .de (Germany) .at (Austria) etc.
Following the basic address check I examine who the website is associated with. Often I have found ‘student resources’ on websites (mostly unreputable) but sometimes on examination of the website you will discover that it is funded by a major government organization. In this case it may well be reputable and present valid ideas and information./p

Module 3

Module 3

This week started out with a discussion of the history of the world wide web and discussion of several of the used protocols. It hit me at this precise moment that I live in a very amazing time. The world wide web only really took off in 1993 due to protocols suggested by Tim Berners Lee. Shortly afterwards Netscape became the first easy to use GUI. It quicly captured market dominance by 1995 (Wikipedia 2008). The following browser war between Netscape and Internet Explorer resulted in many Buggy releases and Internet Explorer ultimately becoming the victor of the first round. Several important protocols that were instrumental in the development of the web are:
HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. This is the underlying protocol for the world wide web and defines how all communications are formatted and transmitted. It is the ‘language’ of the internet that allows communication.
URL: Uniform Resource Locator. This can be thought of as the address of a webpage similar to the street address of a house. If you want to visit you have to know the address (or ask a search engine to find it)!!!
HTML (also shtml for the secure version): Hyper Text Markup Language. This defines the layout and structure of web pages to enable a browser to interpret the information. It could be thought of as similar to the rules of our grammar and language that create a specific standard by which we interpret the information we receive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars

Linear vs Non Linear Documents:
A linear document is one that is read in an ordered manner from start to finish. A novel is an example of such a document as the reader starts at the front and reads through to the finish. The reader is expected to understand all sections they have read prior to the point they are up to and not know the content in the following sections.
Non linear documents are documents containing small pieces of information that can be read independently such as dictionaries or websites with links. Referring back the argument of Professor Karin Wenz I would however suggest that a non linear document is in fact a collection of small linear documents. A dictionary contains sentences that are expected to be read in a linear fashion and as Prof. Wenz argues if a piece does not follow a logical sequence or order it is difficult for our mind to interpret. As such even non linear documents follow the rules of linearity inside each section that is expected to be read independently. Even when reading multiple of these supposedly independent sections (as discussed in the html section) I would still suggest that while a formal linear structure no longer exists the reader is still bound by their own logic processes which would (usually) move in a definite ‘linear’ fashion as the mind jumps from one node to the next.

Next I completed the book of the Sand puzzle. I was expecting there to be some twist or some revelation and was rather disappointed that plain old logic solved the puzzle so easily. It does however demonstrate how linear thought operates and how thoughts strung together in a specific order are necessary for a narration to make sense.
Blogs:
I regularly post blogs on one of the news sites I visit (as I may have mentioned previously) However my blogs are very different to the ‘purest form’ of blogging. Frankly hearing about the day to day activities of a nondescript person (although that last assertion would be argued against by bloggers) bores me. Articles I post are matters of interest or topics I wish to discuss including politics, society, social theories, and generally scientific things.
Web 2.0
The key features of web 2.0 as I understand it are that it is an ‘uncontrolled’, user driven resource. It is a place where anyone can write and post articles, where the end users are also the moderators (meaning they access and censor articles themselves). The java revolution is also crucial as it allows users to manipulate an online environment in ways never previously possible. This has of course led to a battle between Microsoft and Google to control the new technologies being offered based on java in various forms. A large driver of ‘web 2.0’ seems to be free or cheap access to a huge variety of sources. Many old industries are resisting this change especially in fields such as music and movies, however I’d say it is likely that many such things will eventually be very cheap to access. Personally, I’m all for more widely accessible data for lower costs. An example would be the music industry. Many start-up artists have great difficulty developing a following while record companies plunder profits of those that do ‘make it’. Falling production costs coupled with the ability to transfer data efficiently should hopefully even the industry out and reward those who truly do make original and high quality music

Module 3: The human mind and communication

I found the following topic (from a website in module 3) to be incredibly fascinating, however virtually impossible to read. To aid my learning I translated the website into english (haha) and summarized what I considered to be the main points. After completion I found several other relevant sources and decided to turn it into a Editorial post for a website I blog on and the following is the result. It can also be viewed at: http://www.shoutwire.com/comments/full/177269/For_it_Was_Written_Thou_Shalt_Fear_The_Day_Satan_Writes_an_Editorial_




The topic of the day is writing. However, we don’t look so much at the form of writing (grammar, words etc) but delve much deeper into the act of communication and the role our minds and imagination play in creating the reality we experience through the act of writing and reading.

According to Lotman’s thesis there is a parallel between consciousness, text, and our culture with all three representing our perception of space. Signs are included in text that we read in the form of key words and ideas that linearize this three dimensional space creating one dimensional language. Any article we read includes signs that help to create the reality of the virtual world we are reading and are guides for our imagination as we read (Iser’s hypothesis). Text could be thought of as a labyrinth or network of interconnected nodes with one pointing to the next or pointing to multiple other nodes which communicate with the reader by branching out into different ideas. This is especially so on the internet due to a multitude of hyperlinks and other distractions.

The mind reading the text reflects: ‘the cognitive conditions of unhindered vision and movement in space’ (Nöth 1995). To make sense of this limitless space our mind interprets the information by categorizing it and compartmentalizing it. There are generally two theories of how this is done:

The mind places information into ‘rooms’ similar to a house and moves from one room to the next in a rational argument

or

The mind functions by leaping from point to point; however is not limited as in the sense of putting information in ‘rooms’ and maintains much more open networks.

Although imagination has often been thought of using terms such as ‘artistic creativity, fantasy, and invention’ it has a much more important function. Imagination is primarily responsible for compartmentalizing information we receive into coherent units and putting them in logical order that we can understand (Johnson 1985). Imagination is central to cognition and reasoning permeating our spatial, temporal, and culturally formed understanding. Imagination is the link between perception, categorization and understanding; and is the basis for the creation of possible worlds such as ‘as-if and what-if’ scenarios.

Because imagination is so crucial text (in fact all communication whether oral, written, or sign language) includes ‘signposts’ that direct our mind and help us to orient ourselves. It is helpful now to consider communication to be a ‘code’ based on differences between characters. Jacques Derrida suggests that communication is in fact nothing more than a series of sign posts guiding our imagination down a specific path.

It is necessary now to divert for a second to examine a different key point of our imagination. The way we humans perceive our environment is affected by what could be termed as ‘velocity’. Imagine the difference between a pedestrian and a car driver. The car drivers imagination and perception includes distant landmarks and places that he can reach (due to his being in a car) while someone who is bound to only be on foot has a limited perception of what is within walking distance. Our minds as humans have drastically changed due to the invention of high speed transport that was unavailable only 100 years ago. In the same way the internet has ‘sped up’ our minds again and caused them to go into warp speed. A study has shown (sorry couldn’t be bothered finding the source again) that people who use the internet more than others are far more likely to ‘jump’ between ideas and websites in a ‘I want it now’ fashion than people who primarily read books (who have more patience). This hyperspeed mind has however had another result. While a pedestrian can enjoy every flower and smell; a car driver misses these minute details. In the same way we often skim over ‘minute details’ in the cyberspace world. This is clearly seen in abbreviations and net slang which has been shortened to accompany our mental patience: ‘coz, wot, sup’ etc are the product of our impatient minds.

There are three components that help us understand what we read. These are:

The sequence of words

The object of reference

The spatial environment

Within these bounds, space is never an unsemiotically given piece of reality (there are always signs that create our mental image of this space). Text is however more than a mere sequence of signs. Text depends on devices to form a cohesive structure using deixis, anaphora, or commands such as ‘see above’ etc. Using these devices; text is combined into cohesive structures we know such as paragraphs and chapters that allow the reader to orient themselves concerning their whereabouts in the idea or argument. An alert reader can also use this information to predict the following information which is a crucial skill for skim reading etc and helps with the overall logic of the argument. This is also a clear indicator of the linearity of a discourse or just general reading of text.

All this assists the reader to form a coherent picture of what they are reading. It should however be noted at this point that there are two parties creating this coherence. There is the writer creating the coherence via a (hopefully) logical writing style and the use of summarization; and also the reader who is having their imagination guided by a series of signposts left by the writer. The construction of coherence on the reader’s part is largely dependent on the reader’s knowledge and ability to interpret the signs correctly. To summarize; creating cohesion requires the writer to assist the reader to form logical connections between thoughts and arguments. ‘Unconnected’ chunks of information will leave the reader confused. However, it is ultimately the reader’s perspectives, mental processes (imagination), and culture that create the message that is received.

An interesting point to note is that words are not ‘words’ but signs representing a mental image called ‘Lexumes’. When I say: ‘room, hall, attic or corner’ these signs (words) create a mental image in your mind. Although one would think that there is no relationship between the word and the image this is not the case. Reflecting on the psychological effect of words; Ehrich (1989) states:’text communication is more about communication, aesthetics, and psychological effects than grammar’. That is, the virtual world the words create inside the readers mind is more important than the strict form the words take (ie grammar, speeling, etc) Even our language has been influenced by the mental image a word creates. Several scholars argue that the mental image has actually helped create the words we use for that image:
‘Consider the semantic opposition between cranny, nook, chest on the one hand and place or hall on the other. In these examples, the small spaces are expressed by means of short forms with a relative high phonetic constriction.’ Could it be words are often formed by ‘sound’ as in the example just shown with ‘small spaces’ tending to be formed from short sharp tones while words for open spaces are formed by longer sounds? (http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/ht/wenz/image.html)

Kristeva divides text into two axes: a horizontal and a vertical axis. The horizontal access is the connection between the author and the reader that is created through the text, and the vertical axis is the connection formed between the text and other texts (possibly connected by a thought or idea the writer or reader has subconsciously taken from elsewhere)(Kristeva 1980). These two axis create a two dimensional space with the actual message falling somewhere between the extremes with no fixed position. "The text is not a line of words but a multidimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash." (Barthes 1977)

The writer can create signs using imaginal iconicity (stylistic iconicity) in the text using techniques such as repetition, rhythm, duration, and tempo. These devices represent real world structures such as time, sequence, and quantity. Good writers can use these devices to delay or accelerate tempo in the story to make the protagonists’ experiences far more real to the reader (and provide details to the readers’ imaginary world). The most common examples of using such techniques are found in descriptive paragraphs or visual poetry (which attempt to paint a picture in the readers mind). This indicates the ‘virtual world’ created in the readers mind not only includes spatial features but also the dimension of time. However, in the readers virtual reality ‘time’ is not a fixed constant as we know it but a dimension that can be manipulated by our minds to either speed up or slow down. The only constant required is a linear sequence of thoughts that our minds can interpret.

It should be noted at this point that there is not one specific world that is created by a piece of writing. In fact, a unlimited multitude of ‘realities’ exist created along the guideline of the text, and formed by the external influences on both the writer, reader, and the text itself (as discussed previously). While text is constrained by borders, margins, chapters, grammatical rules, and paragraphs it should be noted that what is crucial is not the text itself but the imaginary reality it creates. The text is merely the window through which we view this alternate reality. This alternate reality is a combination of the reality we see, our perception of the world, our imagination, and the signposts created in the text itself.

Idea’s taken almost exclusively from Professor Karin Wenz, http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/ht/wenz/intertext.html

I hope you enjoyed my first editorial.
M

Topic two

NewsGroups/ Email lists:

I joined a newsgroup on yahoo and managed to find a list that I wanted to join. Unfortunately many posts on the group were spam which is probably due to it being a public group. Here is my reply and the original post from one of the other users:
--- In Rainbowfish@yahoogroups.com, (name and address removed)@...> wrote:

I recently finished establishing the plants in my 100g Rainbowfish-to-
be tank. Are there any resources pertaining to where I could find
rainbowfish to stock my tank? Local selection is lacking.

Hi, whereabouts in the world are you? I know theres some breeders in Australia that will send the fish worldwide. Try http://www.ausyfish.com/.
Michael
Then to complete the experience I joined a email list by the name of ‘old punks’ (genre industrial/rock/punk) for music lovers. I figure I’ll stick around this list a while and see what sorts of interesting information come my way.

Chat:
MSN/Skype.
These programs play an integral part in my life. In face Skype is pretty much a requirement for me to communicate with my girlfriend overseas at the moment. One comment I do have about these programs after using them extensively is that it is very easy to be misunderstood. This is because text doesn’t carry the same meaning as the non verbal communications we give off in one-to-one communication. Even when using emoticons to add the lost meaning can often lead to miscommunication especially between cultures. A common example of this is ‘:D’. In msn (and skype) this means a open mouthed smile. However Chinese people interpret the skype ‘big grin’ to be a laughing face due to the animation and possibly translation of the emoticon name.


I also ventured into IMVU with one of the lovely ladies from our class. We visited several different locations like a dance floor and even paragliding! I can see people getting caught up in designing their avatar and customizing it. Many actions are possible such as body language, hugs, flirting etc. Communication is quite simple: simply type and hit enter. Right clicking on the avatar brings up the other options such as body language. A key thing with these avatars is people can create them to look any way they want. Often the avatars bear little or no resemblance to the owner. I think due to the anonymity people also tend to be less shy on IMVU. It’s a fantasy play world where people can be who they want to be without many of the fears associated with a physical encounter. I must say IMVU held no real interest for me though as it was just a virtual reality to replace real life.