The Future

Jane McGonigal is a game designer from California and is the director of game research and development at the Institute for the Future. She believes that “The best hope we have for surviving the next century on this planet? Games… we need to achieve 21 billion hours of online gaming a week by the year 2020. That’ll be just an hour a day, every day, for half of the people on Earth…”

Not being an avid gamer I found this interesting… my brother is what I would call a part time gamer – he doesn’t necessarily play all the time, especially now that he has a full time job, but then again he could be playing for 6 hours straight some days. I sometimes watch and, on the odd occasion, play along as well but I seriously couldn’t see myself really getting that “into” being a gamer. McGonical’s  ideas at first seem to be a little far fetched and her saying that we need to play 21 billion hours a week confused me in the beginning. Something that I have always heard about gaming is the fact that they make people more violent and aggressive in everyday life because they are able to be so in the game. However McGonical flips this on it’s head and says that the things that a gamer goes through within a game can help society survive in the future. That was a little vague – within a game the gamer is focused and optimistically concentrating on tackling a problem or as McGonical puts it “on the verge of an epic win”. Furthermore McGonical mentions the 4 superpowers of gaming “urgent optimism”, “weaving a tight social fabric”, “blissful productivity” and “epic meaning”. It is these aspects of gaming, including the focus and concentration, which Mcgonical believes will allow us to survive in the future. If we were to bring these characteristics out of the virtual world and into reality, which we can only do by continually gaming and becoming better at each, we will be able to solve the problems that arise in the future. McGonical says that these gamers believe that they are capable of changing the virtual world and that is the problem she is trying to solve – she wants to make them believe they are capable of saving the actual world as well.

Another interesting aspect of Jane MsGonical’s blog site was the games she created that dealt with hypothetical obstacles we may come across in the future and ways in which we can deal with them – (this is how she is solving the ‘issue’ of saving the virtual and actual worlds). I found this really interesting because it allowed me to understand what she was talking about more as she wasn’t talking about the virtual gaming world of World of Warcraft but of a hypothetical reality that could someday become our actual reality. these hypothetical games allow the gamers to work together and come up with ideas and solve problems as they would playing WOW however they are solving issues that relate to our survival rather than just the virtual world in the game.

e.g.

and there are a tonne more as well…

reference:

McGonigal, J. (2011). You found me. <http://www.janemcgonigal.com”>

Micropolitics, Networks, Designing for and Living in New Communities

When reading rushkoff’s article I found some of this later comments really interesting about the emails he received asking about p2p networks and the power of the government over the internet. What I found most intriguing (or ridiculous) was his answer to “could a government really just “turn off” the net? Yes. It’s true.” Obviously there has been a recent example of this with the Egyptian revolution however I was ignorant enough to think that it would never happen in Australia. I guess its true that ignorance is bliss.

 

Micropolitics seems to me to be more of a collaborative democratic network that lets people participate and voice their own opinions. Rushkoff’s article investigates the peer to peer networking within a contemporary society. He argues that nowadays the internet doesn’t fully allow people to express their own opinion, mainly due to restrictions by laws set up by the government. He also makes a point that society in its entirety should stop all communication with and surrounding the internet in order to force its shut down. He says this because he believes that we have begun to become controlled and even possessed by the internet and thus the major corporations and banks of the world. “we are witnessing the potential of a peer-to-peer networking become overshadowed by the hierarchies of the status quo” (2011).  He also suggests that “we accept the fact that the internet is built on a fundamentally hierarchical architecture, surrender it to the corporations who run it, and consider building something else for ourselves”

 

The most latest example that we can see regarding to this, as I mentioned before, could be the corporate-government banishment of Wikileaks, as well as the shutting off its networks in attempt to stop a revolution in Egypt. Maybe we can say p2p network is still existing. A p2p network protected only by laws – that exists but for the grace of those in charge – but is this really a p2p network? It is a hierarchical network allowing itself to be used in a p2p fashion, when convenient to those currently in charge.

 

Rushkoff, Douglas (2011) ‘The Evolution Will Be Socialized’, Shareable: Science and Tech, Viewed on 2^nd of May 2011 http://shareable.net/blog/the-evolution-will-be-socialized

Government 2.0

Tim O’Reilly talks about government as a platform with examples from web2.0 and the revolutionary iPhone capabilities

Framing versus “Transversality”

 

I don’t illegally download – i saw how many viruses my brother used to get when he used limewire and other sites and so in order to keep my computer virus free i either buy albums in their physical form or i buy on itunes… anyway i looked through tonnes of videos online about illegal music downloading – some were parodies of commercials, some were lectures and debates and some were just people’s opinions. i found this one rather interesting as the reporter used such emotive language when talking about limewire being shut down. things like the “death” of limewire the “war’ between these sites and the music industry and even that limewire was only a “victim” of this “battle”. The term the “death” is something that comes up quite regularly when talking about online communities “taking over” the older, one could say, physical means of communication and such like the death of journalism, the death of the music industry etc. these words frame us to believe that, for example, illegal downloading is literally KILLING the music industry and illegal down-loaders are WAGING WAR against them. it seems that those against illegal downloading are trying to frame the part of society that do illegally download as those who we feared in the world wars, the germans, the japanese, the dictators – hitler, moussolini, etc.

it is interesting however it doesnt change the fact that people still illegally download… as the reporter goes on to say – shouldnt it be  the music industry that adapts

Data and Media

An ‘unrequited love’ is what Andrew defines, or questions, the relationship between data and media. However data is the message and media is the medium so do they not go hand in hand anyway and can one function with out the other? In order for society to employ and use more data and information, we need to be continually inventing and improving new technologies and media platforms to archive this information and allow us to access it. Furthermore, as society becomes more intellectual, in terms of inventing these new technologies, we add to the data and information making even more for us to utilise and learn from making this just another cyclical aspect of life. In terms of Howard Rheingold’s ‘Infotention’ tutorials his dashboard is what converges all his data into the one place – or into the one medium – where he is able to interact with it. Infotention is a word created by Rheingold and it is using a blend of social and mental skills and technology to filter information.

In the Edwards reading he argues that there is no single instrument that collects the signals or observations in which we can account for an entire knowledge infrastructure of climate change (2010: xiii). Rather, it takes a complex interwoven infrastructure to organise endless amounts of data; which becomes global by passing through a series of data models. He argues that everything we know about the world’s climate we know through models. He states three such models as; computer models, simulation models and reanalysis models (which recreate a sense of history from historical weather data) (2010: xiii).

I think that its important that there is a medium for filtering or archiving data and that it constantly expands and evolves along with the constant flow of information. Without this connection between media and data we really have very little hope of being able to use information well, as well as the constant expansion of global knowledge.

 

Edwards, Paul N. (2010) ‘Introduction’ in A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming Cambridge, MA: MIT Press: xiii-xvii (note that you can download sample chapters at <http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12080http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12080>

Rheingold, Howard (2011) ‘A mini-course on infotention’ <http://howardrheingold.posterous.com/a-mini-course-on-infotentionhttp://howardrheingold.posterous.com/a-mini-course-on-infotention>

Global Mnemotechnics—Globalising Memory, Thinking and Action

In the lecture Andrew explained Hypomnesis it as ‘extended memory which is technical’, or recalling things through techniques and technology, while Anamnesis was natural memory. I find memory very interesting due to my lack of it. I struggle to remember anything from 10 some years ago, even insignificant details. I don’t remember birthdays, holidays, parties, anything. But enough about me – onto the reading…

The cognitive process goes beyond just our mind as memories rely on the environment in order to remember or record details. From Chalmers (1998) paper, ‘the extended mind’, we use the environment as part of our memory. For example using objects as a memory tool or trigger for when we need them again. Therefore because of the extension of our mind we are basically embedded in the world around us. Lately with the introduction of new technologies we are actually able to store these memories in various forms. Here we see that memory literally goes beyond our mind as it is extended into our actual environment, relying on it to hold these moments in time. This, as wonderful as it is for us, is displacing our natural memory. Stiegler argues that as “we exteriorize in contemporary mnemotechnical equipment more and more cognitive functions, correlatively we are losing more and more knowledge”. However are we losing knowledge of making space for more?

An example of the extended mind would definitely be the mobile phone, especially the new convergent media form of the iPhone and Blackberry and other similar phones. These enable us to store a myriad of forms of information including phone numbers, email addresses, to-dos, birthdays, and so many others, (some that you can even put reminders on for so it notifies you when you have to do something as simple as “pick up the kids at 4” for example) that exist as an extension of our mind and in fact body. However what happens when technology fails us, the battery dies, you leave it at home, it just plain ole’ crashes on you… then we are forced to either sit in the corner holding our knees, try and produce information that we should know from our memory, or have a day off! J

Media Ecology

Neil postman describes media ecology in so far as “how media of communication affect human perception, understanding, feeling and value; and how our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival” (Postman; Media Ecology Association). What I find interesting about this quote is the latter – how does our “interaction with media” help or hinder our survival in this world.

 

For example Levinson’s (1997) description of the development of the alphabet allows us to understand it in terms of ecology. The alphabet was a revolutionary medium that changed our interrelation with each other and the world, as it became a medium that allowed “the representation of that which was not representable” (1997, pg 17). There was also a sudden power shift – or power struggle maybe (the elites still remained in control as the literate group in society it just opened doors for others also) – as usually the elites were the only people in society with access to information. Similarly today with the inclusion of blogging, which allows anyone to represent their thoughts that may have formerly be unrepresented. Therefore we see that with the introduction of new governing media forms it changes the nature of ecology, however the democratization of knowledge and thoughts seems to remain constant.

 

Thinking about ecologies in terms of technological determinism, then the “interrelations of being and things” (Fuller, 2005, p 2) puts media as the most important aspect. This seems to undermine the fact that these interrelationships are based upon both the culture and the technology reacting or depending on each other. Therefore media seems to also depend on us. An example of this can be seen in the digital networking society that we willingly take part in, in our everyday lives. We can tweet, status update, blog and utilise these technologies in so many ways because of new media technologies. This network society has allowed not only for a proliferation of digital media and global communication networks but also allowed for a change in our interrelationship with these aspects of it as well as with each other. These new media forms and our access to them have introduced new ways of interaction with each other as well as these new forms of communication.

technological determaists and cultural materialists

Technological determinism is an attitude and a theoretical position which “refers to the belief that technology is the agent of social change” (pg 11) for a technological determinist society is shape by the dominant technologies and “a successful technical innovation, if implemented on a sufficiently wide scar, will generate a new type of society” (pg 12). This quote makes me think of the virtual world of the Internet, specifically social networking sites that allow us to “generate a new type of society” as it creates new mediums of communication and connectivity.

 

Contrasted to technological determinism is cultural materialism, which “emphasises social need and political intention as significant factors involved in technological development” (pg 18). Sociopolitical and cultural aspects of society are what govern the need for new developments in technology and media and their uses. For example with the riots in Egypt a cultural materialist would comment that although social media aided this rebellion, all of this would have happened anyway because of the society itself.

Mcleuhan says that “medium is the message” technology is an extension of the human capacity – therefore the technologies surrounding us are only used when we use them – however –with regard to the speed of technology- we create the technologies to supersede our own capabilities [the paradox of technology maybe?].

Winner is dismissive of naïve forms of technological determinism yet rejects the single-minded social determination theory. Technology opens up the possibility – “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” however without the technology the act of killing would not be so simple.

Williams believes that social politics drives technological development for example the introduction of the producer and the produser that was driven by society wanting to have ‘their say’. Society is a group or organisation that allow expression while also having control over the people through enabling them to do the things they do – [e.g. laws]

another example of social politics driving technology could be the law passed in the US that stops government funding of the nation’s leading sexual and reproductive health care provider and advocate – Planned Parenthood – after this happened a few of the friends I had on facebook that live in The States and were affected by this started posting photos of themselves with the words “I support Planned Parenthood” somewhere in the frame – on their hands, on a post it or just written in the frame via computer software, along with the hundreds of others around the area that did the same. I had to look up what was going on because they had ultimately “spammed” my newsfeed with this online protest.