Thursday 8 August 2013

Week 2 and Tutorial Tasks


Another week has flown by and saw that week 2 topics of discussion in 1501HUM branched from the question of ‘are we communication?’. I would say that, yes, we are communication in some ways, but as human beings, we are more like big vessels of communication made out of flesh and bone, receiving and emitting a myriad of different signals to attempt to communicate a reaction to our current environment and situation. Human communication is as complex as animal communication, we have similar stances when we are threatened or angered and we are able to communicate affection in a rather animalistic way as well.

On my search for information on communication between primates and humans I found a YouTube video explaining how we recognise facial expressions and how we communicate through them. It offered further insight on a topic briefly discussed in the lecture, which was that the evolutional development of the larynx in conjunction with the brain development moulded us into the modern-day human (Stockwell, 2013). Being able to read facial expression as another form of primal communication assists in day to day interactions with other humans and helps us to discern certain social situations such as conveying emotions. The link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLwKgoJna7k

The lecture also discussed that the limitations of human communication can be frustrating at times, particularly in an emotional sense. It is interesting to think of all the words we can use to describe a particular emotion, but it is also ironic that we have all these words to describe what is the matter yet cannot find the right ones to truly articulate what we want to say, e.g. “I’m unhappy.”

The same goes for seeing certain colours, smelling certain smells and hearing things. When we think about what different animals can hear and see compared to us, does It make us realise the limitations between the communication with others of our own race or does it make us think that the way we communicate and interact is in fact the product of hundreds of thousands of years worth of our DNA communicating and evolving within itself?


Task 1: A) 
Add at least 5 people to your blogroll and reading list. List is as follows:
1. 
http://mgarrington.blogspot.com.au/
2. http://msvirtueandnct.blogspot.com.au/
3. http://theweeklyethie.blogspot.com.au/
4. http://jauntiness8.blogspot.com.au/
5. http://claudiaedwards93.blogspot.com.au/ 

B)

I found this clip from the 90's sitcom Friends to be particularly interesting and very much entertaining. In 1501HUM one of our tutorial tasks was to find a youtube video that relates to new communication technologies. I chose this clip because in it, Chandler is very loudly and proudly showing of his new laptop! Being the year 1995, the laptop now looks almost prehistoric to us, but to Chandler who is showing off his new prize it is the best thing going. in 1995, Windows95 would have just been launched.
"Check out this awesome laptop. 12 megs of RAM; 500 megs of hard drive, and 28 kilobits per second modem."
What I find most entertaining is that when Phoebe asks him what he plans to do with it, he responds with; games!

It is funny to see how Chandler obviously didn't place much practical use on his laptop back then, even with all of those neat things it comes with, he just wanted to play games. His response made me think of the hobbyists that bought the Commodore 64 and made their own games with them. In a way not much has changed with laptops over the last 10 years in the way of people still wanting to play games on them, it's just that technology has advanced so much in that time. The episode is now 18 years old and it's really amazing to think of how just the appearance of laptops have changed, along with the technology used.

Here is the link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhHDSOzC1T0

C)
We were assigned to find a web application that allowed us to use or analyse an aspect of the web more freely. I would have to say that would be my iMailG app. This allows me to access my emails in seconds, but without having to lug my laptop around with me all day. I've had the app for nearly a year now and it allows you to access your Google+ account, calendar, Gmail, news stories, YouTube, tasks and more.

It's really handy and it was free and wasn't made by Google. It allows for ease of access at the touch of a button. Though, ad placement is slightly annoying.

You can download it here:
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/imailg-for-secure-gmail-google/id328800112?mt=8




Part 2)
This task asks how I use new communication technologies to communicate with friends and family.
 I use social networking websites such as Facebook to talk to family that is overseas. Skype also comes in handy and I much prefer talking over skype to family than chatting through Facebook.
For friends I usually stick to facebook, calling them on the phone or text messaging them.
I've been using these new communication technologies since I got my first phone in 2009. Necessity to keep in contact with my parents than anything else influenced me to get a phone.

Facebook hasn't been in my life for that long. My friends eventually pressured me into getting it because at that time, everyone was using it daily and my friends wanted to talk to me if we were in different classes! I started using Facebook and other social networking sites, such as the blogging site Tumblr soon after. The same thing happened with Tumblr, I saw a friend using it and saw all the gifs, videos and funny posts that were being made and thought that it would be great to join in on it.
So basically all my social networking activity is based upon the fact my friends influenced me into getting them.

Privacy is a big issue for me, I don't have much information of myself on my facebook. Where you can put things such as; your phone number, your place of work or the city you're living in right now. It's not something I'm comfortable posting up on the internet for everyone to see.
I also have my profile on private.

In the way of internet 'friends', Tumblr has allowed me to keep in contact with people who I am not able to see very often, such as friends who have moved across the country.

Overall, my friends have influenced my choices when it comes to what type of social media I choose to take part in. They also influenced me to upgrade to an iphone 4 after my old ks360 broke. It's the styles at the time and factors such as what seems cool or very useful that make certain new communication technologies more appealing than others.

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