is cyberspace still relevant to our contemporary society?

Computers, the machines that help most people function in society today are often described with their networks as not physical spaces but that which denotes a virtual space, or a cyberspace. This cyberspace is still relevant in society today as it forms an integral part of our communications through social networks and media on the net. Cyberspace has many uses, some that have become outdated since its first days and others that will continue to be relevant to our contemporary society today. Cyberspace has a range of interpretations, from the impulses of electricity which generate reactions fueling words, sounds and pictures to the modern media view which is of a vast sea of information, which can be manipulated however the user sees fit.

Cyberspace is described by Philip Steinberg and Stephen McDowell as "a domain of information flows that apparently transcends state boundaries." This idea of cyberspace transcending boundaries reflects Patrick Flanagan's interpretation who describes cyberspace as "the coined term for the computer world" where "a user is able to type a message and then send it with the click of a button. Within minutes after traveling through cyberspace, the mail message arrives at another person's computer mailbox." (1997) For the purpose of this essay, cyberspace will be an ever encompassing sea of information which transcends man made boundaries and can be easily transferred by means of communications.

Cyberspace as described in movies and small screen shows is one of huge source of information, and in the case of the anime TV series "ghost in the shell" cyberspace is a web not only of information but a crime harboring city. Ghost in the shell is a futuristic cyberpunk anime which revolves around a team fighting virtual crime. In this prediction, Cyberspace is not only still relevant to the society, the society depends on it. From a simple phone call, to creating artificial intelligence both rely on the web of cyberspace. Ghost in the shell talks about cyberspace being "vast and infinite" and also as a "sea of information," which mirrors the cyberspace talked about in this essay. Ghost in the shell description of cyberspace as not only a library of information, but as a crime harbouring city relates to today’s crimes of the internet, where identity fraud and credit card theft is rife. Obviously the crime in ghost in the shell and that of today’s differs, however the idea that cyberspace can be not only information but be dangerous as well is the same. Though this does not verify that cyberspace is still relevant to law abiding citizens, it shows that cyberspace is not only being used for media and communications.

Cyberspace regarding other outlets of media and creativity, such as the website deviant art let artists show their work online and to a wider audience than they would usually be able to. In this case, cyberspaces ability to transcend borders and help people virtually travel distances in seconds rather than the usual hours is helping breed a deviance from usual art. Deviant art immerses itself in this capability of cyberspace where “you can find pencilrs in south America collaborating with colourists in Asia on the next marvel comic blockbuster. “ Kevin Mc Carthy an author on the subject of technology and how its changed the arts states that “ technology has made the arts accessible to mass audiences “ where “the internet shows promise of creating more direct links between artists and their audiences and further reshaping how art is distributed and experienced. “ (2002)
The Chiapas uprising of 1994 was largely organised in cyberspace, where with cyberspaces ability to transcend borders an international community of supporters was raised. Oliver Froehling reported on the organisational ability in social situations that cyberspace has, describing the “possibilities and limitations of the net as a tool for social movements.” (1997) Froehling explained this “success of internet organising in southern Mexico is due to the constant and reciprocal connections between cyberspace and other social spaces.” Today, cyberspace is still used as a median for getting a message across and gathering supporters as it did in 1994. Organisations such as GreenPeace regularly update their websites and add information to the infinite cyberspace, gathering supporters and creating an avenue of relatively cheap advertising. Cyberspace, in this case has absolutely not shown any slowing of the importance of it in creating awareness. organising and creating awareness for organisations cyberspace is still a highly valued tool, which is not irrelevant to society today.

Social networking today is based around the idea of cyberspace transcending borders. friends can chat from one side of the world with others from the other with clarity as if they were standing next to each other. Social networking poses a threat to privacy however, Donna Mertens describes people as having a “dangerous understanding of what kinds of “personal” information they are prepared to share with others.” Even with this danger, Social networking is still popular today with younger generations, showing that the lure of cyberspace is still strong and relevant to society. By the end of 2009 it is predicted that facebook, a social networking site will have over 250 million users and up to 350 million, with an increase of 10 million every month. Obviously the numbers here validate the previous claim, that despite the dangers social networking is growing in popularity and there forth cyber space is continuing to be a relevant part of society today.

Cyberspace is a constantly and vastly changing medium, where information, video and pictures can be uploaded and sent around the world in seconds. Cyberspaces importance in society today is huge as it helps shape the world we now live in in ways such as art, information and cyber crime. The influence and importance of cyberspace has yet to be eclipsed, and it remains relevant to society today.


Refrence List!!!

Kevin F. McCarthy, Elizabeth Heneghan Ondaatje. 2002. From Celluloid to Cyberspace: The Media Arts and the Changing Arts World Rand corportation. Internet book source: http://books.google.com/books?id=oXip2MZZrrkC&dq=cyberspace+and+media&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s

By Donna M. Mertens, Pauline E. Ginsberg. 2008. The Handbook of Social Research Ethics SAGE Publications Inc. Internet Book source: http://books.google.com/books?id=lMbrqQUj4mUC&dq=social+networking%2Bethics&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Flanagan, P. 1997. Telecommunications: today's ten most critical telecommunications Computer Technology Research Corp. Internet Book source: http://books.google.com/books?id=B1-EAAAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:%22Patrick+Flanagan%22&lr=&ei=jPjgSoDsDYjMlQSkqYCRDA

Flanagan, P., 1999. Cyberspace: the final frontier?. Journal of business eithics, Journal article vol 19 no 1, pg 115. Available at: http://www.jstor.org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/stable/25074080?&Search=yes&term=cyberspace&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dwhat%2Bis%2Bcyberspace%26x%3D10%26y%3D13%26wc%3Don&item=12&ttl=3774&returnArticleService=showArticle&cookieSet=1 . Accessed date: 20/10/09

Steinberg, P; McDowell, S,. 2003. Global Communication and the Post-Statism of Cyberspace: A Spatial Constructivist View. Review of international political economy, Journal article vol 20 no 2, pg 196 - 221. Available at: http://www.jstor.org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/stable/4177458?&Search=yes&term=cyberspace&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dwhat%2Bis%2Bcyberspace%26x%3D10%26y%3D13%26wc%3Don&item=4&ttl=3774&returnArticleService=showArticle . Accessed date: 20/10/09

Social Cash. feb 2009. How many users will Facebook have by the end of '09? Internet Source: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=47793929098 Accessed date: 20/10/09

MacFarlane, M. 2007. misbehaviour in cyberspace: the rise in social networking sites and chat rooms intermingles free expression and student safety in cyberspace. Internet source: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Misbehavior+in+Cyberspace:+the+rise+in+social+networking+sites+and...-a0169676763 . Accessed date: 20/10/09

Ghost in the shell. 1995. movie/dvd. Mamoru Oshii. Japan: production I.G.

federal bureau of investigation, 2007. Internet Fraud. Published by: FBI. Available at: http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm . Accessed date 22/10/09

Merriam webster, 2009. Definition of Cyberspace. Publised by: merriam Webster. Available at: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cyberspace . Accessed date: 22/10/09

week 7 lecture

The lecture today talked about copywrites and free software.
interesting...
we looked at the four software principles.. which interestingly starts at zero and goes to 3 instead of one to four.

but free software seems pretty cool.. eg firefox. but also pretty useless seeing as i allredy have IE. which now has tabbing browing aswell...
but anyway.!!
learned about open office too! so maybe ill try that instead of buying new software next time!

but anyway all very interesting lecture that i only half got. but im sure ill check up a reading afterwards! im intregued.

lecture week 6.

The week six lecture, pretty interesting to sum it up.
had a bit of a prosumer feel, with consumers turning into producers.
everyones taking in information and some of us are pumping some back out!!

bit of information with how easy it is to make videos etc now too, mobile phones are a bit of a culprut for that.

so yes, the lecture went over pretty much whats going around on the internet,
where prosumers are all in a happy land of consuming and producing.

week 5 tutorial task! avtive world vs msn,

Presuming that you are a user of MSN, or other IM programs (or have used it before, or at least know about it)...
Besides the obvious differences (such as ActiveWorlds is 3D and MSN isn"t, etc) what are the qualitative differences between the regular IM program and a 3D environment?

DIFFERENCES?
- active world gennerally talks to everyone, msn has a choice for larger conversations or one on one.
- active world does not seem to be for serious conversation.
- a different way to interact with others, possibly communicating more emotion.
- people may choose what they look like, how people see them.

week 3 me and communication!

how do i use new communication technologies to communicate with my friends and family? im glad you asked!!

basically i only really use social networking sites, im not somuch into blogs or email and rarely go on twitter . the reason i have the last two are centred on assignmetns for uni!

ive been using social networking sites for many years, myspace since 04? a few of my friends had it who i went to school and allthough i was with them constantly at school we still had time to talk on the internet also, it was something to do while waiting for a reply on msn!

at that time, privacy was not an issue really, or at least something we did not think about at that age. Probably had something to do with us all thinking we were tricky and saying we lived in new york and were 21. ( i was 14)

Now my attitude on privacy with social networking is slightly stricter, there is a lack of information pointing my adress, school etec. allthough, google and amazon using the information i input does not bother me at all, i find it more to make my life easer.

I used to know people, when in school only on the internet, however now i prefer to avoid such suitations as i find the conversations become rather boring etc.

now i only use new communicatons to talk to people that i know, and thats the way it will probably stay
!!

week 3 video

such a crazy video on the future of communications, and how it will end up affecting all of us, using filters to show us adds that we will react to etc.

scavenger hunt!

1. What did Alan Turing wear while riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park? a gas mask

http://www.historyarticles.com/enigma.htm



2. On what date did two computers first communicate with each other? Where were they?

1965, america UCLA, university of california LA.

(tutorial)



3. What is Bill Gates’ birthday and what age was he when he sold his first software? Bill Gates birthday is the 28th October, 1955 and he sold his first software in 1986, making him

http://www.answers.yahoo.com/



4. Where was the World Wide Web invented? CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), in Switzerland

http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/history/inventedwebwhere.html



5. How does the power of the computer you are working on now compare with the power of a personal computer from 30 years ago?

depends on the computer now and the computer then, type brand and software.
my dad said so .



6. What is the weight of the largest parsnip ever grown? 4lb.
http://www.yahoo.com/



7. When did Queensland become a state and why is the Tweed River in New South Wales?
Queensland did not become a separate colony (from new south wales) until 1859, and the tweed river is in new south wales because thats where the border is!
http://home.in.com.au/~anthonyw/main.html (yahoo)


8. What was the weather like in south-east Queensland on 17 November 1954?9. Why is is Lord Byron still remembered in Venice? There is a hotel named after him, he was also a famous poet in the cosmopoliton city.



10. What band did Sirhan Chapman play in and what is his real name?
The black assasins, steven stockwell.

Cinema lecture.

Today, in the lecture Cinema was first introduced as the task for last week.
The lecturer went over a movies story, who, what when, where, why and how was discussed,
how all these questions made up the story line of a movie.
after this, we looked at the rules of cinema, rules being they must be continually used throughout the movie, with variations depending on the effect needed.

a short history of computing and the internet.

"every abstract machine is linked to other abstract machines ... because their various types are as intertwined as their operations are convergent mechanosphere."
- Deleuze & guattari - A thousand plateaus.

This introduction from the words of Deleuze and guattari underlines how the DNA of each computer is passed on throughout each new generation, allthough they change in shape and more noticably size, each new computer contains parts of the last.

Charles Babbage, a 19th century inventor is credated with inventing the first computer, allthough it was a mechanical machine rather than a electronic one. The difference engine was designed to calculate and print mathematical tables. the first electronic computer is credited to the gemans, who in the second world war wanted to create uncrackable codes to keep their messages from reaching unwanted eyes. They called their creating enigma, which was only beaten by Bombe, a computer used by the brittish to counteract enigmas codes.

This leads on to after the second world war, where in the 1950's computers were finally being mass produced by IBM, however their price kept them from even the most elitest individuals, only governments, the military and corporate companies could afford them. Price was also, not the only factor keeping computers from the public, size, being that computers could only fit into a large room was another problem.

Fast forwarding 15 years to 1965, Moore predicted that the capacity of micro chips would double every two years, which so far has proved correct.

Another ten years of computers being only readily available to the public in universitys led to the release of the altair in 1975, which allthough was described as allmost useless without programs was widley accepted as a technological revolution, and a rather large unusual paper weight.
Bill Gates saw this gap and created BASIC for the Altair, meaning one could use it for word processing, basic accounting and games, so forth microsoft was created and remains one of the biggest names in computers today.

At the same time ideas for apple were brewing where steve jobs and steve wozniak became friends at a backyard computer catchup. Creating apple, they had the mission of creating computers for not only techices but the general public, who were more interested in software and its possibilities.

This brings us to today, where apple and microsoft continue to fight it out for the top position, and computers are becoming smaller and ever more integrated into our lives.