Aim of Page: Discuss Technology in relation to New Media - for example, the relationship between Technology and New Media? ... Also other related topics that you may find relevant. Games
I heard from my friend the other day that they are going to start a new way of getting speeders on the roads to slow down. You get a ticket by speed traps which them take 2 weeks to be sent to your house, by that time you have no idea when you were speeding and most likly just end up paying for it. What they are looking to do is those who buy a car have to put a mobile number to their car and when the radar picks up their license plates and a text message will shortly be sent to their mobile letting them know they have just been fined for speeding. I guess it is more for the younger generation because we use text messageing as a daily form of communication. I also find this a little distrubing because now they will not be paying attention to the roads and reading their texts on their phone, not looking at the phone. Could be interesting to see the contravers between
The uniqueness of mobile advertising #3
Continuing from my previous entry, the unique benefits of mobile also included mobile payments, creative impulse, accurate audience measurement, social context of consumption, and last but not least augmented reality.
The benefit of being able to pay with mobiles synergises well with the benefit of mobiles always being carried. Mobile payments are growing worldwide. In Kenya, the number of mobile banking accounts has exceeded the number of traditional banking accounts, becoming the first country to exceed the difference of 50% in number of accounts. And in Scandinavia (yes it is a country) where mobile penetration rates is amongst one of the highest countries in Europe, customers have expressed that mobile payment (through Premium SMS as a billing mechanism) is their most preferred way to purchase their products.
Adam Williams (2010), the client and networks relations coordinator at txtNation, Plymouth, England said, “Mobile payment makes it quick and easy. Send a unique payment ID, for example PAY ABC to a short code, receive a response within 10-15 seconds—done, billed, service granted”.
Think about it. At the moment there is not one billing mechanism which can compete with such speedy and smooth purchasing process.
Compared to mobile payments, the creative impulse of mobile may seem to be less important and beneficial. Yet some marketers are still able to exploit this and turn it into a tool to increase their sales. In India, people were invited to submit ideas for new Lay’s potato chips flavours. A million of SMS suggestions texts were sent to the company, resulting in four flavour finalists to be chosen from and one flavour to be presented to the market. Besides receiving a number of rewards from the Lays Company, the winner will also get 1% revenue share of every bag of chips that the new flavour will sell. Through this implementation, the Lays Company had established brand loyalty amongst consumers while increased their market sales.
Tomni’s example for accurate audience measurement was Japan's Otetsudai networks, which provided help-wanted ads with location-based service, with full e-commerce. This service was really creative and useful. All the users have to do is fill in their contact details and the skills they possess. Then, for example, a shop keeper needs a temporary (say one-day or a few hours) staff to help him since his staff is suddenly really sick or got into some accidents. All the shop keeper has to do is enter the job details and address, then whichever user is online (through their mobiles obviously) will be alerted of that job. This brings a new level to the definition of casual work, and it might just even be able to help university students (whom most will always be on their mobiles) to earn a bit of extra income.
As for the unique benefit of social context of consumption, Tomni pointed out that two thirds of people will try something recommended by a friend while also two thirds will forward something that they like (through mobile Internet or SMS, MMS etc). I do not really agree with Tomni because I believe the viral aspect in mobile is actually possible to be achieved through the Internet (mainly via social media websites), which people arguably may spend equally (if not less) the same amount of time to browse and forward the content exposed to them by their friends and peers.
Last but not least, the unique benefit of augmented reality. “ Though the market opportunity simply has not materialized yet, it likely will. According to a November report from Juniper Research, revenue from AR will not exceed even $2 million in 2010--but will balloon to $732 million by 2014” (Goldstein, P. 2010). Nokia (not very surprising I guess) is one of the corporate which puts in a significant amount of effort (and money) to exploit augmented reality into a marketing tool. Nokia has this browser called “Point & Find” on many of its smartphones. One of the business cases was the promotion of the “Body World” exhibition in London. By pointing their smartphones at a poster of the event, users would receive a free coupon. The aim of the campaign was to raise awareness and draw more traffic to the exhibition. To conclude my lengthy entry, I will end with the Nokia Point & Find Video:
Continuing from the previous entry, Tomni presented the 8 Unique Benefits of Mobile to the audience at the 2010 MMA Global Event. The most well-known unique benefits of mobile advertising included personal, permanently connected, and always being carried. As stated in my previous entry on 2/9/2010 (Suit your needs by drag and drop), mobile advertising has proved to be beneficial for brands as it allows them to engage more closely and interact with the audience than other mediums.
Michael Wehrs (2009), president and chief executive officer for the Mobile Marketing Association explained that “When a mobile phone that spends 18 hours in someone's pocket or purse makes a noise, they stop what they're doing and service the device. That's a marketer's dream”. Most people are more likely to trust mobile advertising more because they have developed a personal attachment to their own mobile phones.
A good example to reinforce these three benefits is the case of Rite Aid, a pharmacy in the USA. The pharmacy implemented two campaigns:
Instead of creating plastic electronic cards for their customers as loyalty cards like other major retail chain stores, the pharmacy implemented an innovative promotion; allowing their customers to register a mobile number as an alternative to holding the actual plastic electronic cards as their loyalty card. By doing so customers no longer have to worry about finding it amongst the huge pile of cards all stuffed in their wallets (since they now have the alternative loyalty card with them in their phone and they can just leave the actual card at home). Not only this brings convenience to the customers, but it also allows Rite Aid to advertiser via SMS to its targeted audience about offers, reminders, and promotions.
Then, news reached the executives of Rite Aid that 87% of Hispanic households have multiple mobile phones and more than half of them text regularly. “32% of Hispanic mobile subscribers are interested or highly interested in receiving offers via mobile, according to the Mobile Marketing Association” (Tsirulnik, G. 2009). Acknowledging this, Rite Aid decided to set objectives to significantly increase store traffic while having these Hispanic consumers (because of their increasing engagement with advertisers) to transfer their prescriptions to Rite Aid pharmacies. Jeff Hasen (2009), chief marketing officer of HipCricket, Kirkland, WA explained, “The strategy was to provide two offers to opted-in Hispanic mobile subscribers – one for a relatively modest $3 coupon to get consumers to visit Rite Aid locations. The second offer – a $25 gift card, was obviously more substantial because its end result would be additional repeat customers for Rite Aid”. Both implementations worked well, with the latter one having reached Hispanic Americans in more than 40 markets, including 4 of the top 15 Hispanic markets, proving SMS (and mobile advertising in general of course) is not to be under-estimated when it comes to the practicability and effectiveness.
By Josiah Lau 22/9/2010
The 2010 MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) Global Event was held in the New York City.
If you think the most popular mobile marketing strategy used by marketers today is through Phone Apps (especially iPhone or smart-phones) and location-based advertising, then you will be surprised to know that you are wrong.
The event offered its audience that the most basic functions of a mobile phone; SMS, MMS and WAP are actually most effective and favoured by marketers as their strategies. As for Phone Apps, and location based ads, they are mostly used by marketers as minor elements to add value to their major elements.
The effectiveness of mobile advertising is being acknowledged by marketers from different regions throughout the whole world.
Here are a few interesting facts out of the many study cases presented by different people at the event:
-33% of all messaging received by consumers in India are actually machine-originated (E.g. media content), by doing so brands are able to cut cost in hiring people to implement their advertisements.
-In Africa, phone users look at their phones with an average of 82 times a day.
-In China’s paid newspaper circulation, 39% of the total paid readership has been cannibalized by paid mobile daily news updates on MMS and SMS.
-Lipton Tea ran a campaign on ringback tones in Turkey. 250,000 people signed up and the brand sales grew by 47%.
-Wiskas Cat Food in UK promoted a video clip through SMS advertising. It achieved 100,000 responses and drove the brand’s sales up to 30%.
-The Puma F1 multiplayer racing game from China revealed that its advergame was downloaded 200,000 times. This resulted in 300% growth of its sales in China, together with bonus interactions with Puma through ringtones, wallpapers.
Tomi T. Ahonen was one of the presenters at the event. He started his presentation by using the example of how radio was being cannibalized by television and the latter became a more popular medium, applying it to the relationship between mobile and Internet. He presented the idea that the latter had all the content and formats of the former medium, and could create new formats, but not the other way around (E.g. Ringtones, SMS). As of today, the revenues of mobile data has already exceeded total internet revenues.
Later in the presentation, Tomi presented the 8 Unique Benefits of Mobile to the audience. And in this week's entry I will list out the benefits and elaborate them in the next two.
The traditional one-way communicating advertisements are just not working anymore for the audience. Perhaps a bit of interactivity between the advertisement and the audience would be more interesting than just being bombarded with heaps of information.
Recently one of the mobile marketing industry leaders The Hyperfactory cooperated with rich media mobile advertising company Crispwireless to promote a new mobile ad campaign as a part of its “Work Smarter” marketing program for their client; Intel Core processors.
Despite its competitor Apple has already introduced iAd to the public, The Hyperfactory stated that the campaign “has the richness, interactivity and polish of an iAd, without the creative restrictions and platform limitations” (Handley, G. 2010).
Using Crispwireless’s open HTML5 platform (correct me please if I am wrong, HTML5 is a new structuring standard for presenting digital content on the Internet, allowing us to embed features like video playback, drag and drop, which were supposedly only to be able to run on the Internet through plug-ins like Adobe Flash), audience are able to engage the Intel Core processors’ rich media mobile advertisement, in order to search for “their” ideal Intel processor. Audience initiates the search by dragging different icons of different categories E.g. social, performance, and multitasking etc. As they drag their own desired category icon into the space provided, surveys pops up prompting the audience to enter their needs. When they have done so, the final, ideal, most suitable selection of the products is presented to the audience.
The unique feature of this mobile web campaign is that The Hyperfactory is the only company in the market at the moment that is able to “scale rich media ads across mobile Web and in-app, on smartphones and tablets” (Handley, G. 2010). With such powerful mobile web components serving marketers as a platform for mobile advertising to engage more closely (and effectively) with the audience, does it imply it is not long before most of the traditional media advertisements will become ineffective?
Japan has recently unveiled its newest technological gizmo that will change the way we think about vending machines. Débuting on August 10 2010; the innovative touch screen vending machine was launched at Tokyo’s Shinagawa Station. Each vending machine comes with a 47-inch touch panel from where you can elect your purchase. If you are unsure about a beverage you can select it for enlarged and nutritional details. If you are still unsure, you can allow the machine to make suggestions based on your appearance. The thing that makes this technology that little bit more exciting is it comes complete with inbuilt marketing tools. These tools are designed to assist the buyer to select his or her purchase. Each machine is installed with an embedded camera from which it can detect your age and gender. As Savov (2010) states; “… allowing the machine to recommend a beverage suitable to whatever stereotype is attached to your particular circumstances.” This process can evaluate the success of its pre-determined components and give companies an far more intricate insight into the demographics consuming their items.
Not only are beverages being tailored towards each stereotype, the advertising featured also aligns itself to these. These machines will also be able to store your individual purchase and advertising history too. Japan is planning to role out 500 more of these machines around Toyko with in the next two years. The company suggests its new hi-tech machines will increase profits up to 30 percent (Savov, 2010). This technology changes the way in which companies can process information in order to personalise marketing specific to the individual buyer. Audrey Savov, V. 2010: Japan takes Vending Machines to their Logical, 47-inch Touchscreen Extreme” http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/11/japan-takes-vending-machines-to-their-logical-47-inch-extreme (Accessed August 15, 2010)
Marketers, where to advertise next?
As new technologies emerge in the contemporary society, marketers are trying to seek new mediums to place their ads to reach their target audience. With the wide spread use of the Internet and digitization of the content being consumed by consumers, new ways of advertising are to be explored and discovered by advertisers to reach their target audience because “Traditional channels for advertising, like TV, radio and print, are becoming less effective. (Cellular News, 2006)”.
This is where Internet comes into play for marketers. To be precise, mobile internet.
Despite traditional advertising mediums are facing a decline in reach, mobile advertising is exceptionally growing. According to AccuraCast agency (2008), Several companies have conducted research, and forecasted the following data: Sterling Market Intelligence forecasted mobile advertising revenues will reach $5.08 billion in North America and Western Europe by 2012. Thomson Financial predicted Google’s 2009 mobile ad revenue alone will reach $21.31 billion. Gartner predicted that the worldwide mobile advertising market will grow from $895 million in 2007 to $14.6 billion in 2011, while the Kelsey Group forecasted that the US mobile ad market will grow from $33.2 million to $1.4 billion in 2012. Forrester are the most conservative, predicting less than $1 billion in mobile ad revenue by 2012.
Advertising on the mobile internet is beneficial to marketers because of three major reasons: to be able to accurately target specific audience; to be able to initiate reaching audience; and to be able to advertise to the audience at anytime, anywhere.
By advertising through mobile internet, marketers may obtain the interests of consumers through their details or their cookies from the websites they have browsed on the mobile internet (whether it is ethical or not is not the issue, since we are discussing about the pure benefits of mobile internet advertising). Then marketers advertise them products which they are more likely to be interested in and to purchase. Instead of waiting passively for audience to read and watch the ads, marketers can now interact with their audience; Create phone-applications which relates to the products (eg. Coles mobile online shopping, mobile games derived from movies which in turn advertises the movie itself.) Last but not least, with the generalization of the mobile internet, mobile users are now always browsing the internet on the go, demanding for immediacy in obtaining the latest updates. As such, the mobile internet serves marketers as an ideal platform for advertising with much growth-potential to be revealed.
It has become increasingly apparent that “remote Indigenous communities comprise some of Australia’s most disadvantaged users of internet services” (McCallum and Papandrea, 2009). This ‘digital divide’ is happening all over the world not just rural Australia. The internet access is very different to metropolitan areas in regards to availability, speed, price and knowing how to use the internet.
An Australian government study tried to answer why the access is divided; the study suggested “that inequalities exist in Internet access according to income, education and age” (2010). The government study continued to reveal that “living in rural or regional areas of Australia does not in itself determine Internet access, but there remains a regional dimension to the digital divide” (2010).
The answer? The internet should be able to be enjoyed by all. The type of access may be different in remote areas but everyone should be able to know how to use the internet. Supposedly governments are looking into how to close the gap and implement learning programs on how to use the internet beneficially.
Why spend money to go to the doctor's when you can diagnose yourself? Gunther Eysenbach (2008) points out that searching for health information online is said to be one of the most common activities on the Internet nowadays (123).
People are now their "own" doctors.This is due to the New Media tools in today's society providing new information technologies and media for communicating diverse health information to diverse audiences, as outlined by Jerry C. Parker (2008).
To suit the desire for people to immediately obtain information while they are on the go, health companies are now presenting to their consumers more than just massaging machines and organic goods. Smart Health Software has introduced its first interactive iPhone application which provides diagnosis and treatment for back pain for its users.
Named as Pain Free Back, the application works as a personal physical therapist. "Upon download, the application prompts users to create a basic profile and then takes them through a series of questions about the location, intensity and type of pain.(Wash. B 2010, para. 4)" After the requested data is entered, the application provides the users with a unique program each, aiding them in reducing their back pain.
The Smart Health Software promoted the belief that a vast majority of pain can be relieved in a matter of days through simple exercises. Neil Chasan (2010), the founder of Smart Health Software pointed out that people live by their mobile devices today and the application uses the multimedia functionality and convenience of the iPhone to help users pinpoint the source of their pain and learn how to manage and reduce it.
I believe the New Media platform and this type of applications creates synergy, and the potential market is yet to come.
By Josiah Lau (Aug 10 2010)
References
Eysenbach, G. 2008 Credibility of Health Information and Digital Media: New Perspectives and Implications for Youth. (accessed Aug 10, 2010)
Smart Health Software. 2010. Pain Free Back. http://www.smarthealthsoftware.com/pain-free-back.php (accessed Aug 10, 2010).
Wash. B, 2010. New Interactive iPhone App to Help Diagnose and Treat Back Pain. (accessed Aug 10, 2010).
Re: Relief your back pain by yourself
What I like about this is the idea that anyone can receive medical advice and where the boundaries of geography, politics and religion would have no impact. How wonderful it would be if you lived in rural Australia and had minor back pain. Obviously not serious enough to travel 1000kms to a doctor, but painful enough that you are able to help treat yourself with the wonders of the internet. I stress that this idea does not and should not replace doctors itself, but it may certainly relieve the medical industry in its current stretched state.
Katherine Buckley, September 24, 2010.
From Past to Present, headed for the Future.
The invention of early communication devices such as smoke signals, beacons and drums while revolutionary for their time, limited how far and how well these particular messages were received. As communication technology progressed, so did the sophistication and effectiveness of these various means of communication. The ability to communicated and interact with people across the globe and even across the country is already considered to be more than what was thought possible and in the past 20 years much of this communication can be attributed to the expansion of the internet. Just as the Western Union internal memo had its doubts about the effectiveness of the telephone in 1876; "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." (Western Union 1995) The same scepticism was seen in 1977 when Ken Olson, President, Chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp stated "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." (Olson 1995).
Both men were unequivocally wrong and telephones and computers have now become two of the major technologies that face constant modification and development in modern society. Predictions such as these and many beyond what was thought possible are explored on Imagining the Internet: A History and Forecast. I found this interesting yet slightly ominous. What has already been achieved with the internet is incredible, content and communication wise. Already some of the predictions made about the internet for 2010 have been reached such as 1 billion internet users as well as the ability to track users via their computers. I have always thought the creation of new technology and just what can be done with the internet is dependent on how we develop and evolve as a race, surely we have reached a plateau, at least for now. After reading through the predictions for 2010- 2014... only four years away I felt very naive. By 2012 it is believed SUPER Supercomputers, food as designer medicine and intelligent fabrics and materials will all have come into existence. Imagining the Internet describes how many different countries are already in the process of creating the supercomputer that is predicted to surpass the intelligence capacity of humans. This type of intelligence stems to the sites 2016- 2025 predictions where AI or Artificial Intelligence has come into existance and assimilated part of society. The website also provides information and predictions on the earliest technologies such as the telegraph to offer a perspective on how far communication has evolved.
“If you want to know your past, look at your present conditions. If you want to know your future, look into your present actions."- After trailing through Imagining the Internet I have a better appreciation for that quote.
To expand on Lauren's points, I agree and I don't. In my opinion, technology today is catered for mass audiences and a lot of the innovation is lost. We all know that telephones and computers have been around for a long time, however the vast majority of technological innovation is based around these already existing technologies. That is, the phone is still a phone and a computer is still a computer no matter how much the hardware and software has developed.
The internet IS a major innovation specifically re-defining communication methods. Steven Harrington describes three separate levels of communication (2009). The first is monological communication. This implies a mass and passive audience. The most significant example would be the original radio broadcast, clearly portraying a one-way communication method.
The second type implies an active audience. This is where audiences "are actually involved both emotionally and intellectually" and having an effect on media output (Harrington 2009). By conducting audience research, producers of media will gain better knowledge about audiences and what they want to gain from the media (Toynbee, 2006, 92). Not only has new technology changed the position of the audience but it has also changed our viewing routine, with producers now having to abandon their control over when and where we can view programs (Roscoe, 2004, 3). Turnbull explains that a prominent example of an active audience was the introduction of Big Brother. Not only were the audience encouraged to vote for their favourite housemate, but were involved in promoting the website and attending the evictions (2006, 79 ).
The final type of communication relates directly to the theory of digitisation. Digitisation explains the move of information from an analogue format to a digital one, that is from a physical form to a binary code that can be accessed on a computer. The use of the internet provides links and sources where any type of information can be shared The uses to which the media can be exploited has taken new directions since the emergence of Web 2.0. The internet as a channel of communication has made it unbelievably easy to construct and distribute their own media content. Modern day examples include facebook pages and YouTube videos (Turnbull, 2009. 80). In contemporary society the internet is used by millions. After the globalisation of this information, how to access it becomes a portable one, with users increasingly attracted to the idea of accessing the internet anywhere using a range of mediums. These sources have become miniaturised to aid in the communication of goods and services among consumers, which is the final type of communication for audiences: 'polylogical' or the hyperactive audience (Harrington, 2009).
Therefore, Web 2.0 is a major innovation. This is apparent in the way in which audiences use the internet rather than the hardware or software. This could be brought back to a previous wiki entry. Is it the developers that are taking the initiative to create new ideas, or is it audience demand that is the force?
Roscoe, Jane. (2004). Multi-platform event television: Reconceptualizing our relationship with television,The Communication Review, 7 (4), 363-369.
Toynbee, J. 2006. "The Media's View of the Audience," in D. Hesmondghalgh (ed.) Media Production, Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp.91-132
Turnbull, S.2006 'Audiences' in Cunningham, S and Turner G (eds) The Media and Communications in Australia, 2nd Edition, Crows Nest Australia: Allen and Unwin
You are being watched in the future
Mood sensing smartphone, a combination of the geolocation technology and data sources at the mobile phone such as the microphone, the camera, the gyro, etc to figure more about us such as what are we doing, where do we go, our current mood and anything about us even our sleeping time. This technology is coming soon in the future. While I read this news and link it back to Lauren Yong’s post about existences of supercomputer in the future and “Google knows all” post, I feel unsecure as we are under surveillance all the time in the future without our consent. Marketers able to know more about our daily lives routine and they can target on you with their product effectively. For example, by learning how you live, your smartphone can notify you when that Starbucks near your office that you frequent is giving away free free non-fat half-caff lattes because your phone knows it is your favourite.
I do think in an illogical way that combination of this new technology and the supercomputer in the future, supercomputer able to recognize our every action and act in its own way and confront human beings by dominating all the digital devices. Finally it will becomes the end of the humanism, just like the Terminator movie series. Who will know what will happen in the future?
I have never seen such a mass demand for one particular type of technology as I did on Friday when the iPhone 4 launched in phone shops all over Australia. There was so much hype around the product launch that people had been coming into the 3 store which I work practically months in advance asking for information regarding the launch. Given the fact that the iPhone is one of the worlds most popular communication device, I found the communication that we were given from Apple to be very poor. As a carrier, the 3 retail staff and managers were given little notice of how many phones would be stocked in each store, and pricing was received only 3 days before the launch. Given that Apple is applauded for its customer service and complaints handling, the lack of communication was unexpected. This seems to have been the case with all carriers as an Optus rep stated “we don't know when the store will get more stock of the handset" (ITNews 2010). One Vodafone store was also struggling as the dealer states "we didn't receive any [iPhone 4’s]. I'm not sure why. We were expecting them to come in but, you know, we got nothing" (In Colley 2010). This lack of communication in the telecommunications industry then trickles further down the affect the customers, not only the carriers. Ben, a slightly annoyed customer complains “Telstra customer service are advising the call the store ahead of time to check stock status. Unfortunately none of the Telstra stores I called (some 8 or 9 in Sydney) would actually answer their phones nor return messages left. Strange for a telecommunications company, no?” (In Moses 2010). This is also what I am wondering, shouldn’t this advance in new media be a pivotal communication example rather then a string of communication disorders?
References
Colley, A. 2010. iPhone 4 sells out in ‘overwhelming’ rush. Australian. August 3.
ITNews. 2010. Telstra rushes iPhone 4 restock. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/223358,telstra-rushes-iphone-4-restock.aspx (accessed August 3, 2010)
Moses, A. 2010. iPhone 4 sold out around the country. Sydney Morning Herarld. August 2. - Portia Vann
SUPERSONIC BROADBAND FOR THE EAST COAST
In week 3's tutorials we explored the topic of the Geography of New Media, and had a look at the internet connection maps of the world. This brought on a brief discussion of how Australia's internet speed lacks to those of other nations. However, Optus have recently announced that cities on the East Coast of Australia (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) will be receiving internet speeds that are four times faster " due to the upgrade of the Optus Hybrid Fibre Coaxial." (ninemsn.com.au, 2010). Michael Smith, the consumer managing director of Optus, stated "Australians are hungry for high speed broadband, so we've upgraded our cable network to provide the broadband speeds of tomorrow, today," (ninemsn.com.au, 2010). The high internet speed will be available at a cost of $15 per month, and it is expect that 1.4 million household's will have access. Personally, I am satisfied with current broadband speeds available, but if the current national broadband advertisements are anything to go by - I do look forward to witnessing how this will revolutionise the web and communication within Australia.
The latest craze to emerge from the iPad in recent weeks is iPad art. Similarly to using a software such as Microsoft Paint, users create art on their iPad using virtual materials. The iPad application, Brushes, has proved to be hugely popular, with iPad users creating artwork with their fingertips. Kyle Lambert, an illustration and animation graduate, hit the news headlines in the UK recently for his remarkable portraits of celebrities. His recent work includes portraits of Jennifer Aniston, Jude Law and Megan Fox, among many.
[[image:file/view/ipad_art.jpg]] Hundreds of other iPad users are also engaging in the art craze, with sites such as Flikr showcasing artwork posted up by Brushes fanatics. What started as a trend has since become a revolution in the art world with galleries showcasing their pieces on the walls and some copies going for hundreds of pounds. The technology enables people to create drawings and paintings 24/7, something that, without the materials, is not possible wtih conventional art. Corliss Blakely, an artist from Vermont, claims that the iPad is a new canvas for artists, giving people the freedom to create artwork without restrictions.
This concept of techno art also appears in other technologies. The people of Nintendo have created a game for the Nintendo DS which enables users to create artwork through a series of lessons and stages. The game, Art Academy, claims to be able to teach anyone how to draw. The user is assisted by a cartoon, Vince, who helps you to progress to the next level of artistic skill. The game gives users an image to draw/paint using different mediums, similarly to drawing from still life.
The introduction of such technologies featuring on an everyday system may encourage people to try their hand at creating art. Whereas previously, creating art involved buying the utensils and art mediums to create such work, the accessibility and virtuality of the software allows for the creation of art in any setting with just fingers as the tool. However, many argue that the virtual-nature of the programme lacks the pleasure of dealing with real materials which, is the essence of art. In my opinion, this form of artwork should be considered art within the realms of I.T design and not fine art. Although the art created on iPad undoubtedly has a level of skill to it, it does not replicate the skill involved in "real" art, for example, creating texture through brushstrokes. For this reason, I don't think the real Vince (Van Gogh) needs to worry about his artwork's popularity just yet.
In week 10, we looked at the World of Connections and the huge success of YouTube. Since the introduction of the iPad, there has been a craze, as discussed in my previous post, of artists taking to producing art on their iPads. Some artists such as Kyle Lambert and David Jon Kassan have received recognition for their work through posting up videos of the production, receiving thousands of hits. YouTube has, for some, become a platform towards seeking recognition and even fame. That is not to say that everybody posting videos has the intention for them to become as widespread as they do through becoming viral videos. Michael Wesch, an anthropologist, discusses this in his speech at the US Library of Congress in 2008, referring to viral videos that skyrocketed to fame through mass interest. Kyle Lambert who was simply a postgraduate illustration and animation student doodling on his iPad and posting his videos up on YouTube has since received huge recognition for his work and has recently been interviewed by popular UK newspapers. People's interest grew to such levels that people asked for him to put a price on his creations in order for them to purchase his artwork.
Youtubes success stems from the fact that it is an advertising platform for everybodys use. As people continue to witness individuals' success, I think that more and more people will continue to use Youtube as a way of showcasing their talents in the hope of being scouted. This is evident in the field of music as many singers and musicians post videos of themselves showcasing their talents in the hope of being scouted by industry professionals.
One thing that is sure to come hand in hand with the introduction of a new media is a moral panic. There have been incidences of moral panic corresponding with the advent of television, the rise of video games, comic books, certain genres of music, and countless others – some of these panics escalating to widespread fear and action. Even the telephone was initially rejected out of fear of its “unnatural” and “eerie” quality (Sterling, B. 1994).
I found an interesting article inciting a moral panic about a medium I’m definitely surprised to see – the Kindle. The Kindle, first released by Amazon in 2007, is an electronic device through which users can upload and read full e-books. The author of the article, Alan Kaufman, insists that there is a dire connection between the Kindle and Nazis. As he begins the article, “When I hear the term Kindle I think not of imaginations fired but of crematoria lit.” (Kaufman, A. 2009). He also foretells that the Kindle will bring an end to books as we know it (having trickled down from the book burnings of Nazi Germany), as well as the destruction of intellectual privacy (Kaufman, A. 2009). As overblown and bizarre as the article seems, Kaufman does bring up an interesting point. Knowledge (and the book, as a provider of knowledge) brings power, and Kaufman notes that digital reading will leave behind a record attached to the reader: meaning that outside groups or agencies could have access to every book or article one has read.
I think it raises a few interesting questions: If books move onto a digital platform, how easy would it be for Governments to control what we read? And how dangerous could it be to leave a digital intellectual trail?
As users, we entrust a huge amount of information to Google engineers. They know (and keep logs of) everything we search for as well as every link we click to leave the pages we’ve searched for. They also have access to our Google accounts, which include both mail and voice services. There have been a number of serious privacy breaches from Google recently reported – and more that have gone unreported. David Barksdale, a now former Google engineer, recently made headlines by using the information and access he had to invade at least five teenagers’ privacy. He was able to potentially access contact lists, chat transcripts, and call logs, voice mails, GPS coordinates and pictures as well as unblock himself from other people’s contacts (Chen, A. 2010). This wasn’t the first incident, either – Google confirmed that this was the second time an employee had been fired for breaching privacy (Tate, R. 2010).
While Google did notify each user affected of the security breach, it’s unlikely that they would report it were this to happen again. The Barksdale case only surfaced as a leak on Gawker several months after the fact, and Google has yet to release any details on the first breach. According to Reuters, the police were not informed of the incident in order to allow one of the families involved to remain anonymous (Galbraith, R. 2010).
This means three things for Google users. Firstly, there are a handful of engineers with unrestricted access to a multitude of private information. Secondly, if one of these people invades your privacy, Google may not report it. And thirdly, even if the invasion of privacy is grave, Google may not report it to the police. It’s true that only two incidences so far is a very low number, given the amount of people Google employs. The problem is whether or not this will be true in the years to come, and more importantly, whether or not we will know about it.
Layar is a revolutionary application that adapts your integrated mobile phone camera to provide an information portal. Layar has highlighted the potential for a new form of search engine, whereby people seeking particular places of interest can obtain findings from their geographical position. This technology, known as Augmented Reality, displays real time information on top of the real world seen through the camera. This groundbreaking software has revolutionised the way in which people will live their everyday lives.
I predict that the future of Layar will continue to advance, providing people with an application that brings ease to everyday tasks. Layar is a brand new invention and therefore will now continue to be developed to improve its features and application. As with all innovative technologies, they are continually developed due to the creators strive for the technology to be the best it can be. I predict that Layar will be able to tell you if a car park is at its full capacity, how many people are at a football game, whether a product is available in a store...the list is infinite. This relationship between new media and geography will continue to advance and improve through the strive for people requiring efficiency in the busy, hectic society we live in.
Value of our Connections - Hyperconnectivity and Hypermimesis
I just finished reading the transcript of Mark Pesces' speech at the Personal Democracy Forum and he raised some interesting points. One of the themes I lifted from his speech is his analysis of humans and their social connections. In an 'anthropological’ moment he looks back at the way humans have shared information. Tracking the process of sharing back to 50,000 years ago, humans once shared information through word of mouth and then progressed through cultural sharing of literacy and art (Pesce 2008, 1). The rise of new media has meant that slow moving form of information sharing exploded, where “…in a decade’s time we’ve gone from half the world having never made a telephone call to half the world owning their own mobile” (Pesce 2008, 1). We are in an age of hyperconnectivity, where we can contact almost anyone at any time in any location around the world.
I think that Pesce had quite a dystopian view about this level of hyperconnectivity, as he raises the issue of control. This is particularly relevant to my topic as I have a keen interest in the interaction of the law and new media. Pesce talks about how new media is ‘fluid, flexible, mobile, pervasive and inexorable’ but that it does not allow for the ‘neat proprieties of privacy and secrecy and ownership which define the fundamental ground of Liberal civilization’ (Pesce 2008, 2). Most importantly, he recognises that with the fantastic rise of new media, our ability to control or regulate it thus far has failed. Hopefully this will bring some perspective to my essay about virtual property as it will look at the negatives of control and regulations.
Here's a little more about Mark if you are interested
Katherine Buckley, 24 September 2010
References:
Pesce, M. 2008. Hyperpolitics, American Style. Personal Democracy Forum, New York, 24 June 2008. 25 mins, 39 Secs. (Accessed September 23, 2010).
Geekologie - Gadgets, Gizmo's and Awesome
Technology and the art of sarcastic blogging becomes one in Geekologie. This blog comments on all things that are 'nerdy' while also introducing the reader to brand new technological advances. He is continuously ahead of other technology based blogs but is able to convey his information in a way that is pleasing to the viewer. Once you get over his unnatural love of dinosaurs or his paranoia about robots his blogs are quite amusing all while educating the reader on upcoming trends. Another surprising feature is that the writer has never been revealed and he creates interaction between his readers by encouraging them to contribute. This is another example how the internet is allowing people to access information in a consumer friendly model rather than a corporate one. I just had to share this website with everyone, its one of my favorites.
Technology
Aim of Page: Discuss Technology in relation to New Media - for example, the relationship between Technology and New Media? ... Also other related topics that you may find relevant.
Games
Home
SPEED TRAP TEXTS
I heard from my friend the other day that they are going to start a new way of getting speeders on the roads to slow down. You get a ticket by speed traps which them take 2 weeks to be sent to your house, by that time you have no idea when you were speeding and most likly just end up paying for it. What they are looking to do is those who buy a car have to put a mobile number to their car and when the radar picks up their license plates and a text message will shortly be sent to their mobile letting them know they have just been fined for speeding. I guess it is more for the younger generation because we use text messageing as a daily form of communication. I also find this a little distrubing because now they will not be paying attention to the roads and reading their texts on their phone, not looking at the phone. Could be interesting to see the contravers between
The uniqueness of mobile advertising #3
Continuing from my previous entry, the unique benefits of mobile also included mobile payments, creative impulse, accurate audience measurement, social context of consumption, and last but not least augmented reality.
The benefit of being able to pay with mobiles synergises well with the benefit of mobiles always being carried. Mobile payments are growing worldwide. In Kenya, the number of mobile banking accounts has exceeded the number of traditional banking accounts, becoming the first country to exceed the difference of 50% in number of accounts. And in Scandinavia (yes it is a country) where mobile penetration rates is amongst one of the highest countries in Europe, customers have expressed that mobile payment (through Premium SMS as a billing mechanism) is their most preferred way to purchase their products.
Adam Williams (2010), the client and networks relations coordinator at txtNation, Plymouth, England said, “Mobile payment makes it quick and easy. Send a unique payment ID, for example PAY ABC to a short code, receive a response within 10-15 seconds—done, billed, service granted”.
Think about it. At the moment there is not one billing mechanism which can compete with such speedy and smooth purchasing process.
Compared to mobile payments, the creative impulse of mobile may seem to be less important and beneficial. Yet some marketers are still able to exploit this and turn it into a tool to increase their sales. In India, people were invited to submit ideas for new Lay’s potato chips flavours. A million of SMS suggestions texts were sent to the company, resulting in four flavour finalists to be chosen from and one flavour to be presented to the market. Besides receiving a number of rewards from the Lays Company, the winner will also get 1% revenue share of every bag of chips that the new flavour will sell. Through this implementation, the Lays Company had established brand loyalty amongst consumers while increased their market sales.
Tomni’s example for accurate audience measurement was Japan's Otetsudai networks, which provided help-wanted ads with location-based service, with full e-commerce. This service was really creative and useful. All the users have to do is fill in their contact details and the skills they possess. Then, for example, a shop keeper needs a temporary (say one-day or a few hours) staff to help him since his staff is suddenly really sick or got into some accidents. All the shop keeper has to do is enter the job details and address, then whichever user is online (through their mobiles obviously) will be alerted of that job. This brings a new level to the definition of casual work, and it might just even be able to help university students (whom most will always be on their mobiles) to earn a bit of extra income.
As for the unique benefit of social context of consumption, Tomni pointed out that two thirds of people will try something recommended by a friend while also two thirds will forward something that they like (through mobile Internet or SMS, MMS etc). I do not really agree with Tomni because I believe the viral aspect in mobile is actually possible to be achieved through the Internet (mainly via social media websites), which people arguably may spend equally (if not less) the same amount of time to browse and forward the content exposed to them by their friends and peers.
Last but not least, the unique benefit of augmented reality. “
Though the market opportunity simply has not materialized yet, it likely will. According to a November report from Juniper Research, revenue from AR will not exceed even $2 million in 2010--but will balloon to $732 million by 2014” (Goldstein, P. 2010).
Nokia (not very surprising I guess) is one of the corporate which puts in a significant amount of effort (and money) to exploit augmented reality into a marketing tool. Nokia has this browser called “Point & Find” on many of its smartphones. One of the business cases was the promotion of the “Body World” exhibition in London. By pointing their smartphones at a poster of the event, users would receive a free coupon. The aim of the campaign was to raise awareness and draw more traffic to the exhibition. To conclude my lengthy entry, I will end with the Nokia Point & Find Video:
By Josiah Lau 24/9/2010
References:
Ahonen, T. T. 2010. What is Latest in Mobile Advertising, From MMA Global Event in New York City. From http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/06/whats-latest-in-mobile-advertising-from-mma-global-event-in-new-york-city.html (accessed Sept 11, 2010).
Ahonen, T.T. 2010. From Japan: Location based mobile phone temporary work match-maker service. From http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2007/12/from-japan-loca.html (accessed Sept 24, 2010).
Butcher, D. 2010. Mobile payments increased 38 percent worldwide since January: txtNation. From http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/mobile-payments-increased-38-percent-worldwide-since-january-txtnation/ (accessed Sept 24, 2010).
Goldstein, P. 2010. The reality of augmented reality in mobile. From http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/special-reports/reality-augmented-reality-mobile (accessed Sept 24, 2010).
The uniqueness of mobile advertising #2
Continuing from the previous entry, Tomni presented the 8 Unique Benefits of Mobile to the audience at the 2010 MMA Global Event. The most well-known unique benefits of mobile advertising included personal, permanently connected, and always being carried. As stated in my previous entry on 2/9/2010 (Suit your needs by drag and drop), mobile advertising has proved to be beneficial for brands as it allows them to engage more closely and interact with the audience than other mediums.
Michael Wehrs (2009), president and chief executive officer for the Mobile Marketing Association explained that “When a mobile phone that spends 18 hours in someone's pocket or purse makes a noise, they stop what they're doing and service the device. That's a marketer's dream”. Most people are more likely to trust mobile advertising more because they have developed a personal attachment to their own mobile phones.
A good example to reinforce these three benefits is the case of Rite Aid, a pharmacy in the USA. The pharmacy implemented two campaigns:
Instead of creating plastic electronic cards for their customers as loyalty cards like other major retail chain stores, the pharmacy implemented an innovative promotion; allowing their customers to register a mobile number as an alternative to holding the actual plastic electronic cards as their loyalty card. By doing so customers no longer have to worry about finding it amongst the huge pile of cards all stuffed in their wallets (since they now have the alternative loyalty card with them in their phone and they can just leave the actual card at home). Not only this brings convenience to the customers, but it also allows Rite Aid to advertiser via SMS to its targeted audience about offers, reminders, and promotions.
Then, news reached the executives of Rite Aid that 87% of Hispanic households have multiple mobile phones and more than half of them text regularly. “32% of Hispanic mobile subscribers are interested or highly interested in receiving offers via mobile, according to the Mobile Marketing Association” (Tsirulnik, G. 2009). Acknowledging this, Rite Aid decided to set objectives to significantly increase store traffic while having these Hispanic consumers (because of their increasing engagement with advertisers) to transfer their prescriptions to Rite Aid pharmacies. Jeff Hasen (2009), chief marketing officer of HipCricket, Kirkland, WA explained, “The strategy was to provide two offers to opted-in Hispanic mobile subscribers – one for a relatively modest $3 coupon to get consumers to visit Rite Aid locations. The second offer – a $25 gift card, was obviously more substantial because its end result would be additional repeat customers for Rite Aid”. Both implementations worked well, with the latter one having reached Hispanic Americans in more than 40 markets, including 4 of the top 15 Hispanic markets, proving SMS (and mobile advertising in general of course) is not to be under-estimated when it comes to the practicability and effectiveness.
By Josiah Lau 22/9/2010
References
Ahonen, T. T. 2010. What is Latest in Mobile Advertising, From MMA Global Event in New York City. From http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/06/whats-latest-in-mobile-advertising-from-mma-global-event-in-new-york-city.html (accessed Sept 11, 2010).
Tsirulnik, G. 2009. Rite Aid increases store traffic with mobile coupons. From http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/rite-aid-increases-store-traffic-with-mobile-coupons/ (accessed Sept 22, 2010).
The uniqueness of mobile advertising #1
The 2010 MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) Global Event was held in the New York City.
If you think the most popular mobile marketing strategy used by marketers today is through Phone Apps (especially iPhone or smart-phones) and location-based advertising, then you will be surprised to know that you are wrong.
The event offered its audience that the most basic functions of a mobile phone; SMS, MMS and WAP are actually most effective and favoured by marketers as their strategies. As for Phone Apps, and location based ads, they are mostly used by marketers as minor elements to add value to their major elements.
The effectiveness of mobile advertising is being acknowledged by marketers from different regions throughout the whole world.
Here are a few interesting facts out of the many study cases presented by different people at the event:
-33% of all messaging received by consumers in India are actually machine-originated (E.g. media content), by doing so brands are able to cut cost in hiring people to implement their advertisements.
-In Africa, phone users look at their phones with an average of 82 times a day.
-In China’s paid newspaper circulation, 39% of the total paid readership has been cannibalized by paid mobile daily news updates on MMS and SMS.
-Lipton Tea ran a campaign on ringback tones in Turkey. 250,000 people signed up and the brand sales grew by 47%.
-Wiskas Cat Food in UK promoted a video clip through SMS advertising. It achieved 100,000 responses and drove the brand’s sales up to 30%.
-The Puma F1 multiplayer racing game from China revealed that its advergame was downloaded 200,000 times. This resulted in 300% growth of its sales in China, together with bonus interactions with Puma through ringtones, wallpapers.
Tomi T. Ahonen was one of the presenters at the event. He started his presentation by using the example of how radio was being cannibalized by television and the latter became a more popular medium, applying it to the relationship between mobile and Internet. He presented the idea that the latter had all the content and formats of the former medium, and could create new formats, but not the other way around (E.g. Ringtones, SMS). As of today, the revenues of mobile data has already exceeded total internet revenues.
Later in the presentation, Tomi presented the 8 Unique Benefits of Mobile to the audience. And in this week's entry I will list out the benefits and elaborate them in the next two.
By Josiah Lau 11/9/2010
References
Sullivan, L. 2009. Mobile Advertising Becoming Line Item In Brand Media Buys. From
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=115125
(accessed Sept 11, 2010).
Ahonen, T. T. 2010. What is Latest in Mobile Advertising, From MMA Global Event in New York City. From http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/06/whats-latest-in-mobile-advertising-from-mma-global-event-in-new-york-city.html (accessed Sept 11, 2010).
Suit your needs by drag and drop
The traditional one-way communicating advertisements are just not working anymore for the audience. Perhaps a bit of interactivity between the advertisement and the audience would be more interesting than just being bombarded with heaps of information.
Recently one of the mobile marketing industry leaders The Hyperfactory cooperated with rich media mobile advertising company Crispwireless to promote a new mobile ad campaign as a part of its “Work Smarter” marketing program for their client; Intel Core processors.
Despite its competitor Apple has already introduced iAd to the public, The Hyperfactory stated that the campaign “has the richness, interactivity and polish of an iAd, without the creative restrictions and platform limitations” (Handley, G. 2010).
Using Crispwireless’s open HTML5 platform (correct me please if I am wrong, HTML5 is a new structuring standard for presenting digital content on the Internet, allowing us to embed features like video playback, drag and drop, which were supposedly only to be able to run on the Internet through plug-ins like Adobe Flash), audience are able to engage the Intel Core processors’ rich media mobile advertisement, in order to search for “their” ideal Intel processor. Audience initiates the search by dragging different icons of different categories E.g. social, performance, and multitasking etc. As they drag their own desired category icon into the space provided, surveys pops up prompting the audience to enter their needs. When they have done so, the final, ideal, most suitable selection of the products is presented to the audience.
The unique feature of this mobile web campaign is that The Hyperfactory is the only company in the market at the moment that is able to “scale rich media ads across mobile Web and in-app, on smartphones and tablets” (Handley, G. 2010). With such powerful mobile web components serving marketers as a platform for mobile advertising to engage more closely (and effectively) with the audience, does it imply it is not long before most of the traditional media advertisements will become ineffective?
Intel Mobile Advertising Campaign from Crisp Wireless on Vimeo.
By Josiah Lau 2/9/2010
Reference:
Handley, G. 2010. Intel’s Drag and Drop Mobile Ad Paves the Way to a Better Alternative to iAd. http://www.crispwireless.com/press/10/07/5/intels-drag-and-drop-mobile-ad-paves-way-better-alternative-iad (accessed Sept 2, 2010).
The Jetsons Vending Machine
The thing that makes this technology that little bit more exciting is it comes complete with inbuilt marketing tools. These tools are designed to assist the buyer to select his or her purchase. Each machine is installed with an embedded camera from which it can detect your age and gender. As Savov (2010) states; “… allowing the machine to recommend a beverage suitable to whatever stereotype is attached to your particular circumstances.” This process can evaluate the success of its pre-determined components and give companies an far more intricate insight into the demographics consuming their items.
Not only are beverages being tailored towards each stereotype, the advertising featured also aligns itself to these. These machines will also be able to store your individual purchase and advertising history too. Japan is planning to role out 500 more of these machines around Toyko with in the next two years. The company suggests its new hi-tech machines will increase profits up to 30 percent (Savov, 2010). This technology changes the way in which companies can process information in order to personalise marketing specific to the individual buyer.
Audrey
Savov, V. 2010: Japan takes Vending Machines to their Logical, 47-inch Touchscreen Extreme” http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/11/japan-takes-vending-machines-to-their-logical-47-inch-extreme (Accessed August 15, 2010)
Marketers, where to advertise next?
As new technologies emerge in the contemporary society, marketers are trying to seek new mediums to place their ads to reach their target audience. With the wide spread use of the Internet and digitization of the content being consumed by consumers, new ways of advertising are to be explored and discovered by advertisers to reach their target audience because “Traditional channels for advertising, like TV, radio and print, are becoming less effective. (Cellular News, 2006)”.This is where Internet comes into play for marketers. To be precise, mobile internet.
Despite traditional advertising mediums are facing a decline in reach, mobile advertising is exceptionally growing. According to AccuraCast agency (2008), Several companies have conducted research, and forecasted the following data: Sterling Market Intelligence forecasted mobile advertising revenues will reach $5.08 billion in North America and Western Europe by 2012. Thomson Financial predicted Google’s 2009 mobile ad revenue alone will reach $21.31 billion. Gartner predicted that the worldwide mobile advertising market will grow from $895 million in 2007 to $14.6 billion in 2011, while the Kelsey Group forecasted that the US mobile ad market will grow from $33.2 million to $1.4 billion in 2012. Forrester are the most conservative, predicting less than $1 billion in mobile ad revenue by 2012.
Advertising on the mobile internet is beneficial to marketers because of three major reasons: to be able to accurately target specific audience; to be able to initiate reaching audience; and to be able to advertise to the audience at anytime, anywhere.
By advertising through mobile internet, marketers may obtain the interests of consumers through their details or their cookies from the websites they have browsed on the mobile internet (whether it is ethical or not is not the issue, since we are discussing about the pure benefits of mobile internet advertising). Then marketers advertise them products which they are more likely to be interested in and to purchase. Instead of waiting passively for audience to read and watch the ads, marketers can now interact with their audience; Create phone-applications which relates to the products (eg. Coles mobile online shopping, mobile games derived from movies which in turn advertises the movie itself.) Last but not least, with the generalization of the mobile internet, mobile users are now always browsing the internet on the go, demanding for immediacy in obtaining the latest updates. As such, the mobile internet serves marketers as an ideal platform for advertising with much growth-potential to be revealed.
By Josiah Lau 17/8/2010
References
Celluar News, June 29 2006. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/18034.php
(accessed 17/8/2010).
AccuraCast, Jan 28 2008. http://www.accuracast.com/search-daily-news/mobile-7471/forecasting-the-growth-of-mobile-advertising/ (accessed 17/8/2010)
Keeping the Remote Afloat
It has become increasingly apparent that “remote Indigenous communities comprise some of Australia’s most disadvantaged users of internet services” (McCallum and Papandrea, 2009). This ‘digital divide’ is happening all over the world not just rural Australia. The internet access is very different to metropolitan areas in regards to availability, speed, price and knowing how to use the internet.
An Australian government study tried to answer why the access is divided; the study suggested “that inequalities exist in Internet access according to income, education and age” (2010). The government study continued to reveal that “living in rural or regional areas of Australia does not in itself determine Internet access, but there remains a regional dimension to the digital divide” (2010).
The answer? The internet should be able to be enjoyed by all. The type of access may be different in remote areas but everyone should be able to know how to use the internet. Supposedly governments are looking into how to close the gap and implement learning programs on how to use the internet beneficially.
- Georgia Dixon
McCallum and Papandrea. (2009). Community business: the internet in remote Australian Indigenous communities. http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
Parliament of Australia. (2010). A Digital Divide in Rural and Regional Australia? http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/cib/2001-02/02cib01.htm#Major
Relief your back pain by yourself
Why spend money to go to the doctor's when you can diagnose yourself? Gunther Eysenbach (2008) points out that searching for health information online is said to be one of the most common activities on the Internet nowadays (123).
People are now their "own" doctors.This is due to the New Media tools in today's society providing new information technologies and media for communicating diverse health information to diverse audiences, as outlined by Jerry C. Parker (2008).
To suit the desire for people to immediately obtain information while they are on the go, health companies are now presenting to their consumers more than just massaging machines and organic goods. Smart Health Software has introduced its first interactive iPhone application which provides diagnosis and treatment for back pain for its users.
Named as Pain Free Back, the application works as a personal physical therapist. "Upon download, the application prompts users to create a basic profile and then takes them through a series of questions about the location, intensity and type of pain.(Wash. B 2010, para. 4)" After the requested data is entered, the application provides the users with a unique program each, aiding them in reducing their back pain.
Pain Free Back App.
The Smart Health Software promoted the belief that a vast majority of pain can be relieved in a matter of days through simple exercises. Neil Chasan (2010), the founder of Smart Health Software pointed out that people live by their mobile devices today and the application uses the multimedia functionality and convenience of the iPhone to help users pinpoint the source of their pain and learn how to manage and reduce it.
I believe the New Media platform and this type of applications creates synergy, and the potential market is yet to come.
By Josiah Lau (Aug 10 2010)
References
Eysenbach, G. 2008 Credibility of Health Information and Digital Media: New Perspectives and Implications for Youth. (accessed Aug 10, 2010)
Smart Health Software. 2010. Pain Free Back. http://www.smarthealthsoftware.com/pain-free-back.php (accessed Aug 10, 2010).
Wash. B, 2010. New Interactive iPhone App to Help Diagnose and Treat Back Pain. (accessed Aug 10, 2010).
Re: Relief your back pain by yourself
What I like about this is the idea that anyone can receive medical advice and where the boundaries of geography, politics and religion would have no impact. How wonderful it would be if you lived in rural Australia and had minor back pain. Obviously not serious enough to travel 1000kms to a doctor, but painful enough that you are able to help treat yourself with the wonders of the internet. I stress that this idea does not and should not replace doctors itself, but it may certainly relieve the medical industry in its current stretched state.
Katherine Buckley, September 24, 2010.
From Past to Present, headed for the Future.
The invention of early communication devices such as smoke signals, beacons and drums while revolutionary for their time, limited how far and how well these particular messages were received. As communication technology progressed, so did the sophistication and effectiveness of these various means of communication. The ability to communicated and interact with people across the globe and even across the country is already considered to be more than what was thought possible and in the past 20 years much of this communication can be attributed to the expansion of the internet. Just as the Western Union internal memo had its doubts about the effectiveness of the telephone in 1876; "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." (Western Union 1995) The same scepticism was seen in 1977 when Ken Olson, President, Chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp stated "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." (Olson 1995).
Both men were unequivocally wrong and telephones and computers have now become two of the major technologies that face constant modification and development in modern society. Predictions such as these and many beyond what was thought possible are explored on Imagining the Internet: A History and Forecast. I found this interesting yet slightly ominous. What has already been achieved with the internet is incredible, content and communication wise. Already some of the predictions made about the internet for 2010 have been reached such as 1 billion internet users as well as the ability to track users via their computers. I have always thought the creation of new technology and just what can be done with the internet is dependent on how we develop and evolve as a race, surely we have reached a plateau, at least for now. After reading through the predictions for 2010- 2014... only four years away I felt very naive. By 2012 it is believed SUPER Supercomputers, food as designer medicine and intelligent fabrics and materials will all have come into existence. Imagining the Internet describes how many different countries are already in the process of creating the supercomputer that is predicted to surpass the intelligence capacity of humans. This type of intelligence stems to the sites 2016- 2025 predictions where AI or Artificial Intelligence has come into existance and assimilated part of society. The website also provides information and predictions on the earliest technologies such as the telegraph to offer a perspective on how far communication has evolved.
“If you want to know your past, look at your present conditions. If you want to know your future, look into your present actions."- After trailing through Imagining the Internet I have a better appreciation for that quote.
- Lauren Young
References
Infamous Quotes. 1995. http://steverogers.net/comedy/infamous_quotes.asp (accessed August 4, 2010)
Re: From Past to Present, headed for the Future
To expand on Lauren's points, I agree and I don't. In my opinion, technology today is catered for mass audiences and a lot of the innovation is lost. We all know that telephones and computers have been around for a long time, however the vast majority of technological innovation is based around these already existing technologies. That is, the phone is still a phone and a computer is still a computer no matter how much the hardware and software has developed.
The internet IS a major innovation specifically re-defining communication methods. Steven Harrington describes three separate levels of communication (2009). The first is monological communication. This implies a mass and passive audience. The most significant example would be the original radio broadcast, clearly portraying a one-way communication method.
The second type implies an active audience. This is where audiences "are actually involved both emotionally and intellectually" and having an effect on media output (Harrington 2009). By conducting audience research, producers of media will gain better knowledge about audiences and what they want to gain from the media (Toynbee, 2006, 92). Not only has new technology changed the position of the audience but it has also changed our viewing routine, with producers now having to abandon their control over when and where we can view programs (Roscoe, 2004, 3). Turnbull explains that a prominent example of an active audience was the introduction of Big Brother. Not only were the audience encouraged to vote for their favourite housemate, but were involved in promoting the website and attending the evictions (2006, 79 ).
The final type of communication relates directly to the theory of digitisation. Digitisation explains the move of information from an analogue format to a digital one, that is from a physical form to a binary code that can be accessed on a computer. The use of the internet provides links and sources where any type of information can be shared The uses to which the media can be exploited has taken new directions since the emergence of Web 2.0. The internet as a channel of communication has made it unbelievably easy to construct and distribute their own media content. Modern day examples include facebook pages and YouTube videos (Turnbull, 2009. 80). In contemporary society the internet is used by millions. After the globalisation of this information, how to access it becomes a portable one, with users increasingly attracted to the idea of accessing the internet anywhere using a range of mediums. These sources have become miniaturised to aid in the communication of goods and services among consumers, which is the final type of communication for audiences: 'polylogical' or the hyperactive audience (Harrington, 2009).
Therefore, Web 2.0 is a major innovation. This is apparent in the way in which audiences use the internet rather than the hardware or software. This could be brought back to a previous wiki entry. Is it the developers that are taking the initiative to create new ideas, or is it audience demand that is the force?
Tom Stallman
References:
Harrington, S. 2009. KCB101 Communication in the New Economy: Week 11 lecture slides. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_42125_1%26url%3D (accessed September 10, 2010).
Roscoe, Jane. (2004). Multi-platform event television: Reconceptualizing our relationship with television, The Communication Review, 7 (4), 363-369.
Toynbee, J. 2006. "The Media's View of the Audience," in D. Hesmondghalgh (ed.) Media Production, Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp.91-132
Turnbull, S.2006 'Audiences' in Cunningham, S and Turner G (eds) The Media and Communications in Australia, 2nd Edition, Crows Nest Australia: Allen and Unwin
You are being watched in the future
Mood sensing smartphone, a combination of the geolocation technology and data sources at the mobile phone such as the microphone, the camera, the gyro, etc to figure more about us such as what are we doing, where do we go, our current mood and anything about us even our sleeping time. This technology is coming soon in the future. While I read this news and link it back to Lauren Yong’s post about existences of supercomputer in the future and “Google knows all” post, I feel unsecure as we are under surveillance all the time in the future without our consent. Marketers able to know more about our daily lives routine and they can target on you with their product effectively. For example, by learning how you live, your smartphone can notify you when that Starbucks near your office that you frequent is giving away free free non-fat half-caff lattes because your phone knows it is your favourite.
I do think in an illogical way that combination of this new technology and the supercomputer in the future, supercomputer able to recognize our every action and act in its own way and confront human beings by dominating all the digital devices. Finally it will becomes the end of the humanism, just like the Terminator movie series. Who will know what will happen in the future?
By Vahn Low
References:
PSFK. 2010. Intel: Mood Sensing Smartphones Coming Soon. http://www.psfk.com/2010/09/intel-mood-sensing-smartphones-coming-soon.html. (accessed September 24 , 2010)
iPhone 4 Launch
I have never seen such a mass demand for one particular type of technology as I did on Friday when the iPhone 4 launched in phone shops all over Australia. There was so much hype around the product launch that people had been coming into the 3 store which I work practically months in advance asking for information regarding the launch. Given the fact that the iPhone is one of the worlds most popular communication device, I found the communication that we were given from Apple to be very poor. As a carrier, the 3 retail staff and managers were given little notice of how many phones would be stocked in each store, and pricing was received only 3 days before the launch. Given that Apple is applauded for its customer service and complaints handling, the lack of communication was unexpected. This seems to have been the case with all carriers as an Optus rep stated “we don't know when the store will get more stock of the handset" (ITNews 2010). One Vodafone store was also struggling as the dealer states "we didn't receive any [iPhone 4’s]. I'm not sure why. We were expecting them to come in but, you know, we got nothing" (In Colley 2010). This lack of communication in the telecommunications industry then trickles further down the affect the customers, not only the carriers. Ben, a slightly annoyed customer complains “Telstra customer service are advising the call the store ahead of time to check stock status. Unfortunately none of the Telstra stores I called (some 8 or 9 in Sydney) would actually answer their phones nor return messages left. Strange for a telecommunications company, no?” (In Moses 2010). This is also what I am wondering, shouldn’t this advance in new media be a pivotal communication example rather then a string of communication disorders?
References
Colley, A. 2010. iPhone 4 sells out in ‘overwhelming’ rush. Australian. August 3.
ITNews. 2010. Telstra rushes iPhone 4 restock. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/223358,telstra-rushes-iphone-4-restock.aspx (accessed August 3, 2010)
Moses, A. 2010.
iPhone 4 sold out around the country. Sydney Morning Herarld. August 2.
- Portia Vann
SUPERSONIC BROADBAND FOR THE EAST COAST
In week 3's tutorials we explored the topic of the Geography of New Media, and had a look at the internet connection maps of the world. This brought on a brief discussion of how Australia's internet speed lacks to those of other nations. However, Optus have recently announced that cities on the East Coast of Australia (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) will be receiving internet speeds that are four times faster "
due to the upgrade of the Optus Hybrid Fibre Coaxial." (ninemsn.com.au, 2010). Michael Smith, the consumer managing director of Optus, stated "Australians are hungry for high speed broadband, so we've upgraded our cable network to provide the broadband speeds of tomorrow, today," (ninemsn.com.au, 2010). The high internet speed will be available at a cost of $15 per month, and it is expect that 1.4 million household's will have access. Personally, I am satisfied with current broadband speeds available, but if the current national broadband advertisements are anything to go by - I do look forward to witnessing how this will revolutionise the web and communication within Australia.
References
Ninemsn. 2010. 'Supersonic' broadband for the east coast. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/7938589/supersonic-broadband-for-east-coast (accessed August 8, 2010)
- Amanda-Joy Evans
iPad Art Craze
The latest craze to emerge from the iPad in recent weeks is iPad art. Similarly to using a software such as Microsoft Paint, users create art on their iPad using virtual materials. The iPad application, Brushes, has proved to be hugely popular, with iPad users creating artwork with their fingertips. Kyle Lambert, an illustration and animation graduate, hit the news headlines in the UK recently for his remarkable portraits of celebrities. His recent work includes portraits of Jennifer Aniston, Jude Law and Megan Fox, among many.
[[image:file/view/ipad_art.jpg]]
Hundreds of other iPad users are also engaging in the art craze, with sites such as Flikr showcasing artwork posted up by Brushes fanatics. What started as a trend has since become a revolution in the art world with galleries showcasing their pieces on the walls and some copies going for hundreds of pounds.
The technology enables people to create drawings and paintings 24/7, something that, without the materials, is not possible wtih conventional art. Corliss Blakely, an artist from Vermont, claims that the iPad is a new canvas for artists, giving people the freedom to create artwork without restrictions.
This concept of techno art also appears in other technologies. The people of Nintendo have created a game for the Nintendo DS which enables users to create artwork through a series of lessons and stages. The game, Art Academy, claims to be able to teach anyone how to draw. The user is assisted by a cartoon, Vince, who helps you to progress to the next level of artistic skill. The game gives users an image to draw/paint using different mediums, similarly to drawing from still life.
The introduction of such technologies featuring on an everyday system may encourage people to try their hand at creating art. Whereas previously, creating art involved buying the utensils and art mediums to create such work, the accessibility and virtuality of the software allows for the creation of art in any setting with just fingers as the tool. However, many argue that the virtual-nature of the programme lacks the pleasure of dealing with real materials which, is the essence of art. In my opinion, this form of artwork should be considered art within the realms of I.T design and not fine art. Although the art created on iPad undoubtedly has a level of skill to it, it does not replicate the skill involved in "real" art, for example, creating texture through brushstrokes. For this reason, I don't think the real Vince (Van Gogh) needs to worry about his artwork's popularity just yet.
Sophie Greenly
References:
Flikr. Yahoo!7 Pty Limited. 2010. http://www.flickr.com/groups/1306565@N24/ Last accessed 10th September 2010
Bates, C. Daily Mail. 2010. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1303554/Art-Academy-Nintendo-DS-review.html. Last accessed 10th September 2010
iPad Art Craze - Youtube
In week 10, we looked at the World of Connections and the huge success of YouTube. Since the introduction of the iPad, there has been a craze, as discussed in my previous post, of artists taking to producing art on their iPads. Some artists such as Kyle Lambert and David Jon Kassan have received recognition for their work through posting up videos of the production, receiving thousands of hits. YouTube has, for some, become a platform towards seeking recognition and even fame. That is not to say that everybody posting videos has the intention for them to become as widespread as they do through becoming viral videos. Michael Wesch, an anthropologist, discusses this in his speech at the US Library of Congress in 2008, referring to viral videos that skyrocketed to fame through mass interest. Kyle Lambert who was simply a postgraduate illustration and animation student doodling on his iPad and posting his videos up on YouTube has since received huge recognition for his work and has recently been interviewed by popular UK newspapers. People's interest grew to such levels that people asked for him to put a price on his creations in order for them to purchase his artwork.
Youtubes success stems from the fact that it is an advertising platform for everybodys use. As people continue to witness individuals' success, I think that more and more people will continue to use Youtube as a way of showcasing their talents in the hope of being scouted. This is evident in the field of music as many singers and musicians post videos of themselves showcasing their talents in the hope of being scouted by industry professionals.
Sophie Greenly
References:
Wesch, M. Anthropological introduction to YouTube. 2008. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_61201_1%26url%3D. Last accessed 23rd September 2010.
Moral Panics and the Amazon Kindle
One thing that is sure to come hand in hand with the introduction of a new media is a moral panic. There have been incidences of moral panic corresponding with the advent of television, the rise of video games, comic books, certain genres of music, and countless others – some of these panics escalating to widespread fear and action. Even the telephone was initially rejected out of fear of its “unnatural” and “eerie” quality (Sterling, B. 1994).
I found an interesting article inciting a moral panic about a medium I’m definitely surprised to see – the Kindle. The Kindle, first released by Amazon in 2007, is an electronic device through which users can upload and read full e-books. The author of the article, Alan Kaufman, insists that there is a dire connection between the Kindle and Nazis. As he begins the article, “When I hear the term Kindle I think not of imaginations fired but of crematoria lit.” (Kaufman, A. 2009). He also foretells that the Kindle will bring an end to books as we know it (having trickled down from the book burnings of Nazi Germany), as well as the destruction of intellectual privacy (Kaufman, A. 2009). As overblown and bizarre as the article seems, Kaufman does bring up an interesting point. Knowledge (and the book, as a provider of knowledge) brings power, and Kaufman notes that digital reading will leave behind a record attached to the reader: meaning that outside groups or agencies could have access to every book or article one has read.
I think it raises a few interesting questions: If books move onto a digital platform, how easy would it be for Governments to control what we read? And how dangerous could it be to leave a digital intellectual trail?
References
Sterling, B. 1994. The Hacker Crackdown: Law And Order on the Electronic Frontier. Part 1: Crashing the System. http://www.mit.edu/hacker/hacker.html (Accessed 17th September 2010)
Kaufman, A. 2009. Google Books and Kindles: A Concentration Camp Of Ideas. The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-kaufman/google-books-and-kindles_b_380536.html (Accessed 17th September 2010)
Samantha Oldham
Google Knows All
As users, we entrust a huge amount of information to Google engineers. They know (and keep logs of) everything we search for as well as every link we click to leave the pages we’ve searched for. They also have access to our Google accounts, which include both mail and voice services. There have been a number of serious privacy breaches from Google recently reported – and more that have gone unreported. David Barksdale, a now former Google engineer, recently made headlines by using the information and access he had to invade at least five teenagers’ privacy. He was able to potentially access contact lists, chat transcripts, and call logs, voice mails, GPS coordinates and pictures as well as unblock himself from other people’s contacts (Chen, A. 2010). This wasn’t the first incident, either – Google confirmed that this was the second time an employee had been fired for breaching privacy (Tate, R. 2010).
While Google did notify each user affected of the security breach, it’s unlikely that they would report it were this to happen again. The Barksdale case only surfaced as a leak on Gawker several months after the fact, and Google has yet to release any details on the first breach. According to Reuters, the police were not informed of the incident in order to allow one of the families involved to remain anonymous (Galbraith, R. 2010).
This means three things for Google users. Firstly, there are a handful of engineers with unrestricted access to a multitude of private information. Secondly, if one of these people invades your privacy, Google may not report it. And thirdly, even if the invasion of privacy is grave, Google may not report it to the police. It’s true that only two incidences so far is a very low number, given the amount of people Google employs. The problem is whether or not this will be true in the years to come, and more importantly, whether or not we will know about it.
References:
Chen, A. 2010. GCreep: Google Engineer Stalked Teens, Spied On Chats. http://gawker.com/5637234/gcreep-google-engineer-stalked-teens-spied-on-chats (Accessed 23rd September 2010)
Tate, R. 2010. David Barksdale Wasn't Google's First Spying Engineer. http://gawker.com/5638874/david-barksdale-wasnt-googles-first-spying-engineer (Accessed 23rd September 2010)
Galbraith, R. 2010. Google Hit With New Privacy Problem, Fires Engineer. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68E53R20100915 (Accessed 23rd September 2010)
Samantha Oldham
Augmented Reality
Layar is a revolutionary application that adapts your integrated mobile phone camera to provide an information portal. Layar has highlighted the potential for a new form of search engine, whereby people seeking particular places of interest can obtain findings from their geographical position. This technology, known as Augmented Reality, displays real time information on top of the real world seen through the camera. This groundbreaking software has revolutionised the way in which people will live their everyday lives.
I predict that the future of Layar will continue to advance, providing people with an application that brings ease to everyday tasks. Layar is a brand new invention and therefore will now continue to be developed to improve its features and application. As with all innovative technologies, they are continually developed due to the creators strive for the technology to be the best it can be. I predict that Layar will be able to tell you if a car park is at its full capacity, how many people are at a football game, whether a product is available in a store...the list is infinite. This relationship between new media and geography will continue to advance and improve through the strive for people requiring efficiency in the busy, hectic society we live in.
Sophie Greenly
References:
Layar. 2010. http://site.layar.com/download/layar/
Wauters, R. Tech Crunch. 2009. http://techcrunch.com/2009/06/21/layars-augmented-reality-browser-literally-more-than-meets-the-eye/
Value of our Connections - Hyperconnectivity and Hypermimesis
I just finished reading the transcript of Mark Pesces' speech at the Personal Democracy Forum and he raised some interesting points. One of the themes I lifted from his speech is his analysis of humans and their social connections. In an 'anthropological’ moment he looks back at the way humans have shared information. Tracking the process of sharing back to 50,000 years ago, humans once shared information through word of mouth and then progressed through cultural sharing of literacy and art (Pesce 2008, 1). The rise of new media has meant that slow moving form of information sharing exploded, where “…in a decade’s time we’ve gone from half the world having never made a telephone call to half the world owning their own mobile” (Pesce 2008, 1). We are in an age of hyperconnectivity, where we can contact almost anyone at any time in any location around the world.
I think that Pesce had quite a dystopian view about this level of hyperconnectivity, as he raises the issue of control. This is particularly relevant to my topic as I have a keen interest in the interaction of the law and new media. Pesce talks about how new media is ‘fluid, flexible, mobile, pervasive and inexorable’ but that it does not allow for the ‘neat proprieties of privacy and secrecy and ownership which define the fundamental ground of Liberal civilization’ (Pesce 2008, 2). Most importantly, he recognises that with the fantastic rise of new media, our ability to control or regulate it thus far has failed. Hopefully this will bring some perspective to my essay about virtual property as it will look at the negatives of control and regulations.
Here's a little more about Mark if you are interested
Katherine Buckley, 24 September 2010
References:
Geekologie - Gadgets, Gizmo's and Awesome
Technology and the art of sarcastic blogging becomes one in Geekologie. This blog comments on all things that are 'nerdy' while also introducing the reader to brand new technological advances. He is continuously ahead of other technology based blogs but is able to convey his information in a way that is pleasing to the viewer. Once you get over his unnatural love of dinosaurs or his paranoia about robots his blogs are quite amusing all while educating the reader on upcoming trends. Another surprising feature is that the writer has never been revealed and he creates interaction between his readers by encouraging them to contribute. This is another example how the internet is allowing people to access information in a consumer friendly model rather than a corporate one. I just had to share this website with everyone, its one of my favorites.
Audrey
Geekologie, 2010. Geekologie http://www.geekologie.com/ (Accessed 24th September 2010)