Lecture Week 7 - Open Source Software

This weeks lecture was about open source software or freeware. Open source software are programs and applications that are available for free on the internet. They have been created from scratch to mimic other popular programs that you usually have to pay alot of money for (such as programs made by Microsoft of Adobe). Another important feature of these programs is that they have open coding, which means that other users can view and edit the code and collaboratively evolve the program.

Some of the pro's of open source software are that its free and that you can get specific things (eg you can just download the one specific program you want rather than being forced to buy an entire software package just to get the one program you want). Con's however are that there is a risk of getting a virus when you download the program, and the free programs don't have automatic updates like most of the programs you pay for, so if you want to keep your software up to date you need to keep constantly updating it.

Some examples of open source software/freeware include;

Mininova - a directory and search engine for torrent files.

Portableapps - provides access to free portable applications, computer programs you can download to your USB, plug in & use on any computer, and then unplug & take with you without leaving any of your personal data behind.

Sourceforge - provides services to help people build open source software.

Freewaregenious - provides reviews & links to various freeware sources

Download.cnet - free trial versions of freeware

iTunes - free media player

KeyPass - a secure way to manage your passwords

Mozy - provides you with 2GB of storage for free where you can store your documents.

Recuva - restores files you've accidentally deleted on your computer.

Skype - allows free calls between computers. You can also call mobiles & landlines for a small price.

Linux - we talked about Linux in an earlier lecture, its an operating system which is an alternative for Windows that you can download for free.

Redhat - provides support for open source software programs.



Below is an online tutorial I found on how to use iTunes. It proved very helpful to me during our tutorial task where we were to download and use some freeware such as iTunes.

Something Interesting - History of the Nerd

I found an interesting/hilarious site all about the history of the nerd today. Definitely worth a look. Here a couple of choice pics to get you in the mood :)

Tute Week 7 - iReport

Here is my clip from iReport, its actually a real news story, (although I think my reporting skills may be below par...) We did a story on the dust storm as it was happening that day. Unfortunately most of the dust had gone by then, but at least our story was real... :)

Lecture Week 6 - Production & Consumption

This weeks lecture was on the production & consumption of the big & small screen.

Consumption

Traditionally, and for the most part nowadays as well, we are consume professionally created media including television shows, movies, music videos, documentaries etc. We do this through a variety of different media including:

Big Screen -

• Cinema (this is a shared experience)
• TV (shared within a private setting)
• Computer (traditionally private but now becoming increasingly shared)

Small Screen -

• Personal media players (iPods)
• Smart phones (iPhone)

Through the creation of these portable media devices, consumption is becoming increasingly personal as we move away from the shared experience of the cinema to the private experience of our laptop, iPod or iPhone.

Because of the small screen size & often slow download times the most frequently viewed information on these smaller media devices is news. However at this stage, there is a lack of quality entertainment media available for these smaller platforms.


Production

Since the invention and wide use of the internet, the production of media has now become possible for all of us. We can now all shoot footage on our mobile phones and them upload it onto a global platform like Youtube. Some examples of 'consumers' now producing media include;

Fan Films - Short films produced by fans of a particular film that parody, make fun of, take off, or rip off the film itself. For example see the below fan film "Troops" which is based on Star Wars but turns it into a cop show.



Re-Genres - this is where fans of a particular film take clips from the film, add in music and a voice over and create a trailer so that it appears that the movie is in an entirely different genre. For example making The Shining look like a romantic comedy.



ireport.com - This is a website that allows people to upload their own news story. This is an interesting way for people to actively participate in the news, however the stories do not need to be checked before they make it online, so this can end up with alot of fake stories being posted online. For example, check out the story below.



Mobile Film Festivals - since just about everyone now has access to video recording via their mobile phone, just about anyone can now make a movie! As a result of this new medium, there have been a number of mobile film festivals. However there are a few problems with making films on mobile phones. For one, the sound quality is usually horrendous once you get a few feet away from the sound. Picture quality is also bad, and then there is the 'wobbles' you get with it being a hand held device. You can see one of the better mobile phone short films below. Its successful because it keeps these limitations of shooting on a mobile phone in mind.

Something Interesting - DeviantART

Here's another one of my favorite sites on the internet DeviantART.

They have so many examples of amazing artwork. Here are a few of my current favorites.

Tute Week 6

This week, we firstly went to Persona's. You put in your first and last name and it searches for instances of your name on the web and then depicts these findings in a visualiser. Mine didn't actually have anything about me but it found stuff about another Kristen Skinner that is apparently a baseball/softball player. You can see my results below.

Then we went to googlemaps and made our own map. I did mind on The Netherlands as I lived there for 6 months on a University exchange.

View The Netherlands in a larger map

Then we went to Sketchcast (my new favorite site) and I made a sketch, check it out!

From our lecture last week they provided links to lots of fun websites. The ones I liked are;

Internet Archive

On this website you can see how websites have progressed over time from when they first came onto the internet to the present day.

Polyvore

This website lets you create your own magazine layout of fashion! So much fun picking pretty shoes and bags to match. Hours of fun. You can also put text in, it looks really professional. Its a good way to express creativity on the internet.

Disaster Maps

Disaster maps is an online visualiser of disasters that are currently happening around the world such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods etc. Its a really quick and easy way to see whats happening around the world.

SpeedTest

Speedtest is another online visualiser that shows how fast information is travelling across the internet to different parts of the world. For example you can choose to connect to Russia and then see in real time how long it takes the informaiton to get there. Pretty cool!

Tute Week 5 - Internet Movies

Here are two examples of movies that have been made for internet release.

Firstly, "Living With The Infidels" has just been released. Its a black comedy about failed terrorist attacks. I chose this movie because its been on the news at the moment because its causing a bit of outrage because its a comedy about terrorists. I thought it was an interesting example of how the internet has given people a medium they can put these sort of productions on without censorship etc and people can consume it without being judged as they can watch it in the comfort of their own home. Check it out.


The second movie I found was another one of the Clive Owen BMW ads, this one is called "The Ticker". I chose this one because I really enjoyed the other clip that was shown in the lecture and I wanted to find something similar but I couldn't find anything that was as good quality and had such big name celebrities in it. Also its a good example of how the internet has been used as another platform to advertise on. Although this ad campaign was apparently not successful when it was released in 2001 & 2002. I think these days, with the increase in the use of YouTube and the explosion of social networking sites such as Facebook & Twitter alot more young people are spending even more time online so I think the ad campaign would be more successful if it had of been released now. Hopefully another company will recognise this and have another attempt at advertising in this way.


The final movie I found was one about globalization. This short film raises issues about globalization and urges people to take action. Again, this is a prime example of how the internet gives people a platform to voice their opinions and reach a large number of people that was otherwise not possible.