Month: September 2015

When are We Allowed to Watch Porn Together?

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John, an account from 2003:  “Myself and three friends were gawking at a screen, layered with the image-search results of “boobs”, “penis”, “pussy”, “sex”, and “hardcore XXX porn”.  Our friend’s younger brother stood at the door as a lookout. His head bounced between the stairs a few meters away and the screen of my friend’s family computer. We consumed so much porn in 15 minutes. We also managed to integrate enough porn plug-ins, viruses, and videos into the operating system to render it unusable without seeing layers of genitalia on startup.” My rare memories of viewing porn with someone always ended tragically. Pornographic media is abundant yet our experiences of it in public are dealt with motherly scoldings and reinforced taboos. Porn remains a private form of media. No, porn remains an activity that no one ever does, most of the time. Without a doubt, it will remain that way for some time, with or without regulation bodies prohibiting videos that show people having sex online (Lawstuff NSW, 2015). Yes,  you read that right, online porn is not …

Please Turn Off Your Phone

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(via, store-safe.com) A sign like the one above is displayed in the waiting room of my local medical centre. I ignored it, and so did three others, but its presence disturbed me. What did they not want us doing on our phones? It’s complicated when multi-utility devices are ubiquitous, to prohibit one function you have to prohibit the whole device. This sign was designed when phones looked like cell phones, and its current purpose is just as outdated. Does the control of technology in a space regulate how private or public it is? My local gym has signs displayed on and around the change rooms prohibiting: CAMERAS AND PHONES. The same response could justify the underlining negativity surrounding Google’s eyewear Google Glass. It’s possible that the introduction of user enabled technology redefines the privacy of a public space into an immediate private space. While it’s still a public area, it becomes unethical for a researcher to not disclose themselves in this context. You could define all of online space as “public”, because there is minimal …

Buzzfeed’s Success

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Buzzfeed news is an aggregate model, collecting sources of information into consumable lists. It’s possible to conclude that Buzzfeed is an adaption of the ‘bridges made of pebbles’ phenomenon. News has adapted into an aggregate where the greater the compliant sources the more validation  of a story – also referred to as collective intelligence.

I Can Multitask, Why Can’t You

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My first challenge with the idea of increased distractions in a learning environment, is it the participants responsibility to manage distractions, or is it the facilitator to regulate their environment. The value of no distractions is focused attention. But, what’s the value of attention? Attention has been defined as the most valuable resource for content evaluation. The attention economy develops due to the mass availability of information and therefore the devaluation of content. In this environment Advertising becomes the dominant exchange of attention into lucrative value. Advertising is the crux of our distraction. But by now we all have ad block, right? The last time I watched local TV I was appalled by the length of ads spliced between shows. That’s distracting, it’s disruptive, and my experience is now ruined. I’m actively avoiding these disruptions to enjoy uninterrupted content. Even when on another device, I’m more likely participating it a sequential screening practice (90%), using multiple devices to accomplish the same task, than simultaneous usage. So why can’t we retain our focus in class? What …