Why things matter???

   Ever wished that when you come back home everything thing is in order. The dishes are clean, the clothes dried up and even the food is cooked and served. It would be an ideal lifestyle for all of us. Do you remember when you were small, after a tiring day playing and you come back home and sit in front of the TV. As you wanted to turn on the TV and finding for the remote, you notice the remote is beside the TV. At that moment u feel so lazy to stand and take the remote. You wish how if you could just make the remote float to your hand. Well im not going to tell anything on how to make remote's float but actually, going to talk about something more better which is about objects that can do work them selves.

   This weeks article is  by Julian Bleeckers, "Manifesto of for Network Objects - Cohabiting with Pidgeons, Aprhids and Aibos in the Internet of Things". this article covers about the internet of things. He used the term Blogjects as to address this "Things" which comes from the combination of blog + object. Blogject is refferd to the concept that now objects too can communicate. However this is only possible with the availability of the internet and objects that could connect to them.

   This type of term may be confusing or scary at first sight but nothing to be surprised that blogjects have already be part of our life. These "things", joins and exchanges ideas through the web. These is however done solely independently without any human involvement. The information is however crucial for humans to take further actions. It is somewhat  like constructing a building. The blogjects provides the information needed to make sure the platform could be build and then humans could continue to build the other floors.

   There are 3 characteristic that blogjects posses which is :-

•    Being able to track and trace where the have been 
  Many thing has now built in GPS system that could reveal the exact location they are at. The receiver could be as simple as through your smart phone. Tracking devices is a famous example for blogjects that suites this characteristic.  It remembers that last activity done or place visited and makes it easy for other to trace it back.

•    Having an assertive voice within the social webEach blogjects have their own qualities. each out stands out with its own qualities. They communicate with other things that they need to make sure they get things done individually.
  
•   Having embedded histories of their encounters and experiences
  Something like a tracking devise, blogjects have a memories stored in them. For example, all our computer usage will be stored in the history or even the car GPS could be traced back its routes by dwelling with the GPS system it self.

     These directly narrows us down to two things which is CO-Habitation - space and place and CO- participation. It is undeniable that these blojects have been part of us to help us. The information that we get from them end of the day help us all in our daily life. Besides that we have too have to participate and communicate with them to make out a better quality life with our surrounding.

   In conclusion, these blogjects are the key stepping stone in making a better future ahead. there are more things to come as times pass by and blogjects are just there mere glimpse of what lies ahead. Although human is the best in any technical works, but blogjects are there not to take over these jobs for now but to help out. Who knows Terminator era might just be around the corner where we can start shaking legs and let the  "Things" do the work for us. But is that the right way and how we want live our live as a lazy inactive humans?

Is it Google or Apple???

   Week 12's reading touches on two very big giant that had made a very big land mark in the world of IT and technology. The two giant mentioned was none other than Apple and Google. They have come out with many new types of technology and had made a big difference in making our lives easier in many ways. Google has come a long way from just being an ordinary search engine to where it is now whereby they have created their own operating system

   In this weeks reading, Google's Open Source Android OS will free the wireless Web, it touches about Google's Android interface. It will be used in interfaces such as smart phone. As a competitive nature, Apple also came out with its creation of its own software used in one of their most famous creation which is the I-Phone. When both Smart phone android is compared with I-Phone. there are some prominentdifference in the interest rate of the society. Android is somewhat is more preferred due to to the reason that the applications are free. Besides that  I-Phone applications somewhat could only be used in I-phone only and cant be downloaded to other types of smart phone.

   However although the consumer prefer to go for the Android more, but it is undeniable the I-Phone has set its own bar for the smart phone series. Although there are other version of smart phone from different brands but I-Phone has its own position in its market. Aplle products aren't the easiest to use but end of the day, maybe the sophisticated nature blurs everyone's vision as it is a very advanced technology. The competition however doesn't just stop there as the market always has someone new emerging. the latest one could be will be the Blackberry OS.

   As in from a consumers perspective, i would strongly suggest that Android is a better choice. Although I-Phone becomes the new phone trend setter, but I-Phone is a very much closed and protected types of technology whereby only apple would be the place to look forward in case of anything. on the other hand Google gives away free android with an open garden of application. More over the growth of Google itself has amazed us all with an increase in market share. A more reliable and safer choice in a long term i would say.

   In conclusion, both Google and Apple are becoming better and better over the years with invention of technology that had bring us from nowhere to where are we now. However its better to know our stuff in and out first before making any decision. The android has somewhat in my opinion wins this race at the moment but this is not the end as there is more to come from both kingmakers.

Facebook and Twitter are just places revolutionaries go

   It has become a common sight in most of the part of the world for the community or society in a specific place to start a protest when they could not handle the dissatisfaction at hand due to the reason that they are just ordinary person and want some serious action to be taken. However, distance too has no say when the internet has taken control of the current world that we live in. Facebook and Twitter are famous social networking sites that helps in connecting everyone. both Facebook and Twitter however have also been a tool used to help out in other external issues such as helping out in a protest by doing cyber protest.

   Cyber protest are protest done through the cyber world usually by creating groups or spreading the news to all the contact in their accounts. Although we are on the other side of the world, we can still be active in the cyberworld protest. Moreover when a issue becomes a very hot topic in these social networking sites, it will eventually will be noticed by the necessary officials and will come to limelight.

   Although,the actual purpose social networking sites Facebook and Twitter were created is that everyone could stay connected and communicate. However things have moved from just staying connected to more of a toll of freedom of speech. Everyone has their own say on their own account in either Facebook or twitter. Sometimes even the most subjective issues become a hot topic whereby everyone takes part. As mentioned by Malcom Gladwell "that the internet can be an effective tool for political change when used by grassroots organizations". Since the aspect of connectivity dwells very deeply in these social networking sites, thus an opinion about the political change can actually change the mind of many that are present in this sites.

  Besides that the importance of internet has also been identified not only by the society but also the people that govern it. Even our own Prime Minister Dato' Sri Haji Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak has his own account in both twitter and Facebook. This is part of his approach to become more closer to the pupil of Malaysia. he even encourages everyone to do so. In his approach of a more democratic country, social networking sites has played a very great deal both in the upbriging of this country, bringing everyone to become a more closer nationalities and also also reveals another face of a so called democratic country to lime light. There is more to these social networking site that meet the eyes since its development stage. One thing is for sure is that Facebook and Twitter might just be places where revolutionaries go for a further revoltionary events to take place.

  

Hacker

   Hacking is the act of getting access into a persons digital or internet zone without permission. nobody is going to be happy if someone else crosses and gets access to your personal information in your computer. Situation would actually be very ugly if that person could not only get access to your personal information but also temper with it which is one of the most nastiest thing a person could do to another.

   First and foremost lets get to know somethings about this hackers. hackers are not just any random guys. Although they may look like any one of us, but their IQ level and knowledge about computer's very much supersedes an ordinary computer users. This is because hacking requires a great amount of understanding about the computer, coding and the internet. Thus in simple terms this guys are freaking SMART!!!. However some genius tend to miss use it in a very wrong way. such as trying to get access into places they are not suppose to such as the ISA site ( WHAT WERE U GUYS THINKING!!!)

   However the whole hacking cant be said as a bad deed. This is because there are also government officials that do hack for official purpose. Cybercrime is one of the latest trend of crime that is widely increasing now. Hacking falls under cybercrime laws. thus it is only wise if even the government officials have such personals on their site to fight these type of crime. The officers will sometime have to hack to a specific suspects computer to help out to solve very hard to solve cases which they may get breakthrough by hacking only.

   Due to this dangerous condition nowadays, it is very important for us to be very careful. Try not to put any personal information that is very valuable in places that others can get access through easily. Its important even for us to get know some technical stuff so that we wont be too blur when someone is actually sneaking upon your stuff. End of the day, extra knowledge on a certain things would be very good but it depends later on how we are going to use it. Either we could use for the good willing of all or the other way round which may end up causing trouble to you. This also applies to all future generation that is already planning to become an hacker one day. Better choose the right side today.

Citizen journalism

   In this 21st century, the world has come across many new type of technology and evolution. One of the greatest achievement of all is the birth of the internet. The birth of the internet has given a big breakthrough to many new discoveries, the transfer or fast information sharing and communication. One of the main focus of this particular article is the birth of citizen journalism as how it came about and its nature.

   Citizen journalism is a trend where by everyone plays the role of journalist. It applies to the active role of ordinary people that take interest in conveying the happenings that is happening around them. In olden days, news could only be received from the newspaper or any broadcast media. Only the people working at these places could provide us with news around the world. With the birth of the internet, individual importance has been given a recognition. The internet helps in connecting everyone and thus gave birth to citizen journalism. Through the internet, even the most shyest person on earth could be heard. there are many sites that becomes a hot spot for citizen journalism to take place such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and as such. Another technology that further enhances citizen journalism is the invention of the smart phone that allows us to

   When a breaking news happens, the first person to know about it are the person that are nearest to the place of incident. At the current timezone, they could be the first one to expose of to tell about it to the world. this could be done as simple as, connecting to your smart phone to the internet and posting up a status on the facebook or even tweet it in tweeter. Facebook and Twitter has somewhat become one of the fastest source or news in the world. Big international news such as death of Steve Jobs or even national news such as the blast of Empire gallery shopping mall in Subang Jaya Malaysia was known in between few minutes as the incident or event occurred. one of the main pro's of citizen journalism which is the speed of information transfer.

   Furthermore, cotozen journalim is done without going through any editors editing and this means the news will be as raw as possible. There is nothing to worry about the news may have been tempered due to government regulation and so. But this may arise a question weather, the news may be or may not be true or credible. To a certain extend citizen journalism may only be be considered as an open source of information for our personal knowledge but cant be used as a credible base to do any important work on unless the information is gotten from a very reliable source. This new trend however has given opportunity to everyone to become a journalist. It opens oppurtunity for everyone has a say upon their part and voice out to be heard.
 

Weblogs and The Mass Amateurization

   The emergence of internet has brought in many differences. One of the most important emergence is the emergence of blogs. Blogs or weblogs are sort of a forum or a diary that is frequently updated by a single use or also known as a blogger or even a company. Weblogs are used for many different reasons such as advertise gadgets, own opinion or view point, notify about food and the places with good food, recent happenings and many others.

   In this 21st century, the arrival of the internet has brought upon many different ways to create revenue for on self if they know how to do so. This is possible even by blogging. usually bloggers create revenue through advertising. There are a number of companies out there that does research and looks for good blogs. these bloggers will then be contacted and will be asked permission if they could use their blogs to place ads. These ad placing  companies are very much aware that weblogs are one of the hot media used by many to gain access to different types of information thus using it to place ads is considered a good strategy to target many people especially the teens.

   In terms of the content that is present, its is very much debatable. This is due to the reason that weblogs are not only maintained by a trained professionals every time, but there are also weblogs that are handled by ordinary people. Thus the content that we read from this types of blogs are actually unreliable due to the reason there is no proper facts to support them. Besides that, the term "freedom of speech" also plays a very important part in the evolution of blogging. Many ordinary citizen would like to tell what they feel or opinion to many but they are afraid that it will land them in a big problem. Thus another alternative rather than shouting out in the public is blogging whereby there will be many people that would come and read what you wrote (that is if the blog is interesting to read)

  We may compare which would be better. Some say books are better than weblogs and other may say vise versa. Actually it depends. Both media has its own pros and cons. When we look at a book, it is very dependable because it may have gone a series of editing before it is being published. But when we are looking for a fast information especially with a keyword in it, it is quite hard to find through a box of books. on the other hand, the blogs are very, fast easy to access and its free. However, the weblogs somehow lacks of credibility of the information and may not be trusted. thus everything has its ups and down and it depends on the user to make sure to try to get the best of both worlds.

Media Convergencee

   "Ow My GOD!!!...i need to get back home early, or no ill miss the match which is in an hour time!!!". Well this  are the usual dialogue's you can hear few years back. The people then was very sure that we cant do two works at one. However i would like to sincerely welcome ya'll to step in to a new type of world which two works are possible to be done simultaneously. Well actually im talking about the new in thing, which is the convergence of media. Convergence is the process where several media channels come together to exists and operate in synergy or rather in harmony.

   Technology has come a very long way actually. New inventions seems to be unstoppable. However the trend seems to be changing lately. Altough the creation of new invention is expanding, at the same time there is another expanding trend which is the art of converging or combining technologies. Henry Jenkins' Worship at the altar of convergence - A new paradigm for understanding media change becomes the reading for this week on the topic of convergence. The main issues that convergence actually touch on is about technological, industrial, cultural and social changes.Everyone seems to look at things differently at different parts of the world. Thus when different element tend to interfere, new innovation is born. People will try to as much as then can to come out with new innovative product and ideas. Convergence occurs during that period. Human tend to come out with great ides in making life easier by combining tools especially in terms of information delivery and reception.

   Example of convergence that we can see in our everyday life is like the convergence of TV and computer (internet tv), newspaper and internet & computer and cellphones. As different tools are used to do many different activities, convergence of all this is made to make things to be more simpler to do or faster. for example now newspaper is made easy to access and also free with the availability of online news website. besides that with the arrival of smart phone many activities such as booking air tickets, checking mails or even getting quick information which once a point of time made possible if you only have a computer.

   However this new innovation also has its setback. Everyone knows that although an invention is modified, but the original is still considered to have the real quality of the invention. As such when a media is converged, the ability for it to perform its task to the fullest is decreased. For example although the newspaper is made possible online but how many of us could actually get accessed to it and is it user friendly to everyone. Another situation is the use of smartphone. Altought it could be used to do many stuff like to check your mails , but the usage of internet in a smart phone is somewhat could only be used for very minor things and cant be used as well as being used in a computer.

   Ina a nutshell, convergence has brought in the new ways of information handling which is more easier and faster. However you may not expect the technology to be as good as it would be in its original state. However you may not know weather this might not be the end and the true potential of convergence is yet to be discovered.

  

Intelectual property

    Those were the days where "what is mine is mine and you can only take it if you can win me". Things then turned around and became lets have a mutual understanding if we can share what we have at hand. However the current situation at hand is considered a new trend all by itself where by "your things will however soon be mine". This example of statement are actually being referred to the uncontrollable issue of copyright infringement that is happening everywhere around the world.

   Copyright infringement is the act of using other people's work for your own use without any permission or acknowledgment towards the actual source. the concept of copyright infringement however is very new as it is developed through the development of technology. Usually this term of related to issues that concern technological stuff such as music, designs or any sort of plan. This act of stealing is not only done by professionals such as producing pirated copies of work but also by the public itself. The simple act of downloading a material from the internet that is from another source which actually does not have the permission to do so  rather than the original source that may allows us to do so is also could be convicted to the copyright infringement.  Copyright infringement is associated with all originals works that has been certified and protected by the copyright law. Thus miss use of such material that is being protected may land you in trouble.

   The statement may arise that "im not doing anything wrong" by the public that is downloading such material. Justification can be made that im just downloading what is made available and the actual culprits are the people that are actually being the middle person. However, even the law states that a bigger punishment will be given to the person that is the actual convict behind a murder rather than the murderer that did it. The person that is taking the trouble to use other peoples work without permission is because he has demands that supports his deed which is the public. Thus everything seems to be interrelated. It may seem as an harmless act eventually for such a thing but just take time to think the actual hardship to create an original work which consist the sweat of day and night work, time, money & sacrifice. Then comes some guys in the middle to take some of the credits for free. Well the actual world does not simply works like that.

   The example of law that protects a copyrighted material are laws such as  copyrights, trademarks, and patents. these law is the basic type of laws that will be used to go against cases concerning copyright infringement. However the the world is not a cruel place as you may think after all. We however can use the other peoples material to help in our work such as scholarly journals and articles. There is however proper ways to do so such as referencing, citing or acknowledging the actual creator. If the owner is reachable its good to ask permission to use the material. the material used however  must not be misinterpreted or the actual meaning must not be damaged due to some changes done. this may also give possibilities fro the owner to charge you.

  In a nut shell, always remember that we must treat others the way we wanted to be treated. put yourself in the position of the other person and think for a moment how if you took all the trouble to come out with your original creation and some geniuses comes and takes it away from you. Thus make sure to respect originality and if indeed you want to use them to help out in your original work, make sure you do it the right way or...SOMEBODY GONNA GET HURT REALLY BAD!!!!...SOMEBODY :-)

Network citizens power and responsibility at work - Economic

The journal that we are required to analyze for this week is Peter Bradwell’s and Richard Reeves’s journal on network citizens, power and responsibility whereby the focus was more to economics. Humans have developed from the Stone Age to where ever we are now. The changes that took place never stopped and are still continuing. In the course of change also we have developed many new aspect of life and economies are one them. Economy is a very important aspect of a state whereby the up brings or development of a particular state is evaluated by looking at its economic status.

The economy of a country is not dependent on a particular organization, government or an individual. The economy of a country is driven actually by everyone in the country either from the government sector or even private sector. Without even realizing, we have somewhat or another had contributed to the economy of the country that we are staying in. Each job done either big or small does affect the economy. However the economy now is facing few changes due to the changes that is taking place among the society and their working culture.

            According the journal, one of the major changes that are faced in many countries are the type of jobs. Due to the development of technology and networking’s, people have now move to a more knowledge based jobs like banking and marketing rather than hard labour. That doesn’t mean that physical labour is totally diminished but now the percentage of knowledge based labour has more demand than the physical labour. Knowledge based work are given equal important as manufacturing as we need both to run the business successfully. Besides that through the birth of technology also, many new sectors have been intervened whereby now the availability to employment also increases drastically in many sectors which was not even thought could be accessed once upon a time.

Changes could also be seen in employer an employee relationship. In the current economic standing, the employee also has started to have a say in the type of work they want and the type of boss they wish to have. The days where the bosses are giving really hard times to his workers are not anymore tolerated by the employees. On the other hand they would prefer to have a more “ethical employer” at hand. This shows that the network culture changes not only the economy status but also the network citizen that dwells in it. A good working environment, a smooth communication between employer and employee and a happy day at work certainly plays a part in affecting the economy state of a country.

The networking environment has also touched in the boundaries of work and leisure. Due to the change in the perception among the network citizen now, work place has also now become a place of socializing, making communication and also making network. It has come to a state that the best way now is to make sure to try to get make the network system of the employees to increase the business status of a particular company. As stated in the journal by the authors “the key now will be the management and interaction between the organization and an individual”.

Ina nut shell network citizen are the pioneer of the near world in the future. Neglecting this new trend may cost a lot for a company, business or even the economy of a state. It is wise to make full use of this new trend in the development of many new ideas, innovation and collaborations. By being a network citizen, individual talent and potentials could be maximized for the benefits of the whole society and economy. One thing is for sure that change is ignorable and by adapting ourselves to the changes that happen is the best or the wiser thing to do. We may even be better of that we ever imagined.

Now you better step back- Dare not step into my WORLD (cyberspace)

Now you better step back- Dare not step into my WORLD. Well this is the warning from the new generation to the old generation that is ruling the world in real life. The new generation is the generation that now has two worlds to be in which is the real world and the cyberworld. The cyberworld or cyberspace is a non material space that is created by humans through the internet. The internet is the core place where the cyberspace dwells in. the cyberspace is a space whereby the user gets access to it and to a certain extend could live in it as if living in your own world where by most of the law of the physical world could not get accessed to. Altough there wont be any physical contact done between any humans or material things, but however that are the only two things that seperates the real world and cyber space. Other than that, the cyberspace makes it possible to do many ordinary activities such as finding for information, communicating, freedom to talk what ever you want which is not that possible to do in the real world.






In his journal "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace", John Perry Barlow has expressed in a form that cyberspace community is giving a strict warning to the outer government. i stand strong beside Barlow in his statement that the cyberspace is not bound by the boundaries of the state. The cyberspace and the community in it has its own rule of freedom and the government of the real world has is not allowed to interfere by any mean in the actions or even the statement stated in the cyberspace.

As an example of a famous social networking site in the cyberspace which  Facebook. as a social networking site it is used as tool of communicating with other people that are part of our network. However "I" become the only person that has the rights in controlling my Facebook and the activities that is being done in it. The goverment in power now has no rights in interfering and altering its content whereby the law of freedom of speech should not be applied to the social networking site. However i also would like to give in my personal opinion that although the government in power should not interfere in the cyberspace, but as for now the issue of ethical usage of the cyberspace falls to the user to make sure they understand the consequences in misusing the cyberspace. 



In a nut shell, as for now onwards, we are living in two worlds. The importance of both world is very prominent whereby as for now its very impossible to live without even one of them. However the governess of the real world is advised to not to enter the cyberspace as this new world is being shaped to form a new constitution all by itself. the question now arises weather, would this new order of freedom would be a better choice or the total opposite to it???

Information Ecology

For many years, human have asked themselves weather is it only us in this galaxy or is there any other world out there. Although the answer they were expecting is expected to come from somewhere out of earth but in time, indirectly humans have created another world on earth itself. This world is called the digital or virtual world. This world however does not consist of any access physically to it neither made from physical aspect such as soil bricks, sand and water. This world is made solely through the development of humans all this years by developing new technologies to make their lives easier. This virtual world is made by many digital elements and two of such elements are networks & information. Networks are created to share information between humans. There is a vast amount of information that could be found in the internet and networks are created in the process of uploading, downloading & altering the information’s.

According to Stadler, information in the virtual world is controlled by two things which is flows and nodes. Every information is sent to the nodes through the flows and the nodes acts as a centre to go through by the information which will then in return will sent to its specific destination or recipient. The flow does only becomes a stream for the information to flow but also acts as a filter or rocks which process through the information and does some changes in necessary. Base on my understanding, I could see that both nodes and flows are mutually interdependent. Both need each other to make sure the network relationship in the virtual world is consistently connected and becomes better.

The nodes however although stabilizes the flow of information and endow a certain consistency and continuity to the environment, they are themselves subject to the dynamics of the environment. The patterns are the four basic dimensions of information ecology:

• interdependency

• change

• time-boundness

• differentiation

(Stadler, F.)

1) Interdependency

            All the nodes that are available in the ecology environment are connected to one another. Thus it creates an interdependent relationship among one another that allows the sharing of information to happen. Through the connection that is done by nodes, everything seems to be possible in the virtual world such as communicating, sharing information & getting connected.

2) Change

          The only thing that dosent change in this world is changes itself. In the ecology environment, change occurs very often in the information which indirectly changes the whole nature of the ecology. As the information goes through various nodes, it reshapes itself according to the changes done. These changes would then have different impacts on the people that deal with it. As stated above, the changes that occur here has no end and it changes continuously because the only thing that does not change in this world is change itself.

3) Time-boundness

            Time is a very crucial factor in the ecology environment. Everything has to be done fast in today’s world or you may end up crawling behind just because you delayed a few minutes. However the time factor totally depends on few factors such as nodes and flow and the purpose of the information that is going to be used. For example a journalist may need an information as fast as possible but that is not the case of a college student trying to access to an online comic.

4) Differentiation

            The nodes and flow survives as long as it makes a different. By being different, they seem to stand out and catch the attention needed. Thus changes occur frequently and thus make difference to stand out in the network world. In the network world, although ell the nodes are connected, but for survival purpose its every nodes for itself. Thus to make sure to survive, the nodes need to make a difference frequently to stay in the network for a long time.

why networks matter-Manuel Castells

Manuel Castelle has marvelously done an in-depth study and had prepared a very in one of the journals that he prepared about networks which is titled “Power does not reside in institutions, not even the state or large corporations. It is located in the networks that structure society . . .” In this journal, a very important theme that is highlighted is about the relationship between network and society. Networking has been part of the society for a very long time but it has emerged to limelight to the society just recently and this is due to the emergence of new type of technologies that could support and sustain networks.

            According to the journal the question, what is society has arised and Manuel Castelle has provide a very realistic and in-depth answer which states that the society is not made up based on its technological growth but on the other hand, is the social structure which are made up of many networks diversed in the society.

            Network may be seen as a small type of structure from its outer or physical point of view but the actual strength of the networks lies internally and can’t be seen. For example in a networking business, the strength of the business increases as the network also expands.  Besides that individualism becomes one of the aspects that emerges among society in the new era. Through the different type of social networking sites such as Facebook, Friendster, myspace and many other that are similar to it, the power of individualism is expanding in a greater scale as now everyone are connected individually and could be heard induvidually.

            The new era as can be seen as a network era rather than a technology or information era has been expected by many researches and they have come out with few expectations in this new era such as network is expanding globally and it is invertible to stop it as there is no straight route of cutting through a connection. However diverting the connection by creating a new connection is a possible. All in all network is the latest way things work now globally as now everything or everyone is connected to one another and with the rise of technologies such as the internet strengths further the relationship that is created by the network society.