This week's task for our blog was to look up two subjects on wikipedia that we already knew a lot about and to check the validity of wikipedia's info. We were asked to answer the following questions:
Is this an accurate article? *
Does it cover all the basic facts that you'd need to understand this topic?*
Does this article follow the wikipedia guidelines for useful articles?*
Is this article fair and balanced, or is it biased towards a particular side or argument?
The first article I looked up had to with my favorite comedy movie Billy Madison. The wikipedia article gave the film's basic background - it's rating, total profit while it was in theaters, plot, characters, and actors in the film. The plot summary given was comprehensive and accurate and a person who was looking for a well-written synopsis of the film would be extremely satisfied. The article is not biased in any way and gives a fair and balanced portrayal of what the movie is about. If I could change anything, I would write down additional info about the movie's production - such as where it was shot and who were the film's writers and directors. The article also neglects to mention how successful the movie was out of theaters on dvd and vhs releases. But besides those minor points, I feel that the Wikipedia article was a good resource for learning about the film.
The second article I looked up was that on one of my favorite actors Bruce Willis. Wikipedia had tons of information about the actor, singer, song-writer including a list of his albums and movies, the gross profit that each made, as well as his political views, personal life, life before stardom, and up-coming projects. There isn't any more information one could ask for or expect from an article. The article follows the guidelines of a 'good' wikipedia article in that none of the article is biased and all information and quotes are backed up by over 60 reference points. I wouldn't change anything about the article except to add a couple more movie photos of the actor.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
After reading Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" it is easy to see that the German critic's his fears for what new technologies would do to the traditional notion of art can be easily applied to the digital artwork of today. Benjamin stated that a piece of artwork's greatness is to be measured in the piece's "aura" or "original' attributes. To Benjamin, the piece of art that is to be revered is the piece that cannot be easily reproduced and whose ownership history can be traced back to its creator. To Benjamin, the easy reproduction of artwork with new technologies made such artwork have less of an "aura" than the art of a non-technological age. In our current circumstance of digital photographs and media, Benjamin would without a doubt be unhappy with how easy it is to re-create or re-record what is considered today to be new art (films, photo's, etc.).
In Benjamin's terms, the digital art of today does not possess his all-important "aura". Most, if not all digital art can be reproduced using programs, scanners, or digital recorders. Indeed, it would be very hard to distinguish which digital photo was the first of its kind, and which photo was a copy. For older works of art such as paintings and sculptures, it is somewhat easy to find discrepancies in reproductions that make them different from the originals.
Although Benjamin might disagree with me, I do believe that even though many people are currently exposed to many digital programs and resources, it still takes an artistic person to create digital artwork. I think that because so many people are now exposed to digital programs, more people have an opportunity to develop their individual artistic sides and create works of art.
I think that a photo shopped picture can indeed become a work of art if the creation is original and intriguing. Contemporary photographer Andy Warhol became famous for his doctored photos of Marilyn Monroe and The Beatles. His creations were and still are valued in our society because at their creation they were original and intriguing. Today, many people could make Warhol-Type photos, but will always be Warhol who will be accredited with the style.
In Benjamin's terms, the digital art of today does not possess his all-important "aura". Most, if not all digital art can be reproduced using programs, scanners, or digital recorders. Indeed, it would be very hard to distinguish which digital photo was the first of its kind, and which photo was a copy. For older works of art such as paintings and sculptures, it is somewhat easy to find discrepancies in reproductions that make them different from the originals.
Although Benjamin might disagree with me, I do believe that even though many people are currently exposed to many digital programs and resources, it still takes an artistic person to create digital artwork. I think that because so many people are now exposed to digital programs, more people have an opportunity to develop their individual artistic sides and create works of art.
I think that a photo shopped picture can indeed become a work of art if the creation is original and intriguing. Contemporary photographer Andy Warhol became famous for his doctored photos of Marilyn Monroe and The Beatles. His creations were and still are valued in our society because at their creation they were original and intriguing. Today, many people could make Warhol-Type photos, but will always be Warhol who will be accredited with the style.
Monday, March 31, 2008
other task for tutorial 4
This week we were also given these questions to answer:
How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
- search engines often rank their search results by the amount of the search keyword(s) an article or site might display. Also, sites that are backed by larger institutions (whether it be governmental or educational or both or neither) will be placed before sites that are smaller. Certain websites can also pay search engines like google or yahoo to be within the first results on certain searches.
who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results? Usually the '.edu' or the '.gov' are better websites than many ".com's" simply because their research is generally more through and their websites have more to offer about the subject.
what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others? My favorite search engine for searches that are largely inconsequential to my immediate life would have to be google. It is a simple search engine that is gives somewhat reliable references quickly. I would use this search engine to find things like food recipes, simple facts, or directions. When I perform research for a school project, however, I generally like to use search engines like PowerSearch or Infotrack because they only display validated articles and information. When I use these engines I feel like my information that I receive is reliable.
How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
- search engines often rank their search results by the amount of the search keyword(s) an article or site might display. Also, sites that are backed by larger institutions (whether it be governmental or educational or both or neither) will be placed before sites that are smaller. Certain websites can also pay search engines like google or yahoo to be within the first results on certain searches.
who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results? Usually the '.edu' or the '.gov' are better websites than many ".com's" simply because their research is generally more through and their websites have more to offer about the subject.
what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others? My favorite search engine for searches that are largely inconsequential to my immediate life would have to be google. It is a simple search engine that is gives somewhat reliable references quickly. I would use this search engine to find things like food recipes, simple facts, or directions. When I perform research for a school project, however, I generally like to use search engines like PowerSearch or Infotrack because they only display validated articles and information. When I use these engines I feel like my information that I receive is reliable.
Questions and Answers
Today we were given the task of using the net to answer some questions without using google or wikepedia. Here's what I came up with:
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus? Onel de Guzman, 24, a computer school student. (cnn.com)
2. Who invented the paper clip? The first bent-wire paper clip was patented by Samuel B. Fay in 1867. (officemuseum.com)
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name? after the ebola river valley in africa. (emedicine.com)
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake? Chile in 1960. (earthquake.usgs.gov)
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte? 1,073,741,824 kilobytes (t1shopper.com)
6. Who is the creator of email? ray tomlinson (openmap.bbn.com)
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it? a backdoor trojan that targets the windows operating system. it's hard to tell how many comp's are infected. there could be millions. (washingtonpost.com).
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly, what is the most efficient way? Through written mail. E mail is too risky. (http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm)
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of? The black assassins. (http://www.blackassassins.net/)
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words? internet activity where user to user communication or contact is the main goal. examples are wikepedia, myspace, and facebook. It is different from the previous web in that any user can put things up on the web in web 2.0. (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html)
Are these sources accurate? For some of the smaller sites and ".com" sites, the information gathered could be questionable because they aren't backed by large corporations or educational facilities that would have many researchers at their disposal. Some of my sites that could possibly be faulty could be "officemuseum.com" or "openmap.bbn.com". The other sites that are government backed or educational institutionally backed would probably have valid information. Other sites like "http://www.blackassassins.net/" where the website is officially backed by the subject would also likely have valid information.
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus? Onel de Guzman, 24, a computer school student. (cnn.com)
2. Who invented the paper clip? The first bent-wire paper clip was patented by Samuel B. Fay in 1867. (officemuseum.com)
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name? after the ebola river valley in africa. (emedicine.com)
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake? Chile in 1960. (earthquake.usgs.gov)
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte? 1,073,741,824 kilobytes (t1shopper.com)
6. Who is the creator of email? ray tomlinson (openmap.bbn.com)
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it? a backdoor trojan that targets the windows operating system. it's hard to tell how many comp's are infected. there could be millions. (washingtonpost.com).
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly, what is the most efficient way? Through written mail. E mail is too risky. (http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm)
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of? The black assassins. (http://www.blackassassins.net/)
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words? internet activity where user to user communication or contact is the main goal. examples are wikepedia, myspace, and facebook. It is different from the previous web in that any user can put things up on the web in web 2.0. (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html)
Are these sources accurate? For some of the smaller sites and ".com" sites, the information gathered could be questionable because they aren't backed by large corporations or educational facilities that would have many researchers at their disposal. Some of my sites that could possibly be faulty could be "officemuseum.com" or "openmap.bbn.com". The other sites that are government backed or educational institutionally backed would probably have valid information. Other sites like "http://www.blackassassins.net/" where the website is officially backed by the subject would also likely have valid information.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Hi all,
My name is Peter. I am an American international student currently studying abroad in Australia for 6 months at Griffith University Gold Coast. Back in America, I am a student at The College of William and Mary where I am perusing a Major in English.
I am enrolled in New Communications and technologies and am looking to start publishing my first blog where I will reflect on different course lectures as well as my over all experience as a foreign student studying on the Gold Coast.
This week in our lecture we discussed the importance of Blogs in our contemporary society. As a current American college student, I had no idea of how much weight certain blogs had on our mass media. In all honesty, I thought blogs were merely hobbies of computer nerds who didn't have better things to do with their time. I was surprised to learn how certain bloggers have gained such notoriety that their blogs have influenced anything from indie-car racing to the political arena.
My name is Peter. I am an American international student currently studying abroad in Australia for 6 months at Griffith University Gold Coast. Back in America, I am a student at The College of William and Mary where I am perusing a Major in English.
I am enrolled in New Communications and technologies and am looking to start publishing my first blog where I will reflect on different course lectures as well as my over all experience as a foreign student studying on the Gold Coast.
This week in our lecture we discussed the importance of Blogs in our contemporary society. As a current American college student, I had no idea of how much weight certain blogs had on our mass media. In all honesty, I thought blogs were merely hobbies of computer nerds who didn't have better things to do with their time. I was surprised to learn how certain bloggers have gained such notoriety that their blogs have influenced anything from indie-car racing to the political arena.
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