FUTURE or PRESENT: Internet of things

By thinking about 'Internet', the first thing comes into my mind is connection, a concept that has changed millions of people's both private and public lives. Back in a few years ago, it was hard to believe that this sheer magnitude of internet system will enormously unleash and offer us in almost every aspect in our lives. Even the brightest and the best have made some wrong assumptions back in 1981 which was the '640 kB is enough', a myth attributed to Bill Gates. Today, we are still not ascertain how this technological innovation will lead us to because it's not simply seen as a novel idea anymore, but rather, this complex has immeasurable potentials contributing to the gathering of energies, reforming our relations, entirely changing the patterns of our experiences. Everything comes together in a sense of multiplicity, which creates, combines and overlaps our virtual experience to real world significance. 

I remember clearly from the lecture where viral videos were mentioned as examples to illustrate this concept, the network that feeds on vitality and that generates a new kind of trans-individuation based on the creation of our authenticity inspired by what our everyday life is like. We have this resonance with the videos we watch when the finite feeling expressively comprises of a chain of sequence made of certain frequency of rhythm and tempo. At this moment, this animation of things collectively capture the individuality and realism altogether at a given moment. How can we not acknowledge them as a reflection at that single moment of our lives?   

The following video is about an adorable child catches himself at the first time with a tiny bit of struggling and falls onto the snow at the second time. But this is what particularly captures our attention when it's amusingly presented in a way to depict what naturalness is like. Hence, this short clip can crucially turn into our sense of enjoyment. 

Whilst viral video is the product of technological-driven innovation, internet sharing is one of the factors that increasingly escalates their popularity. In other words, interconnection makes this happen and devices nowadays extensively provide us with multiple access and enable us to communicate with wider range of people to exchange things, events and ideas via embedded systems. And this internet of things, the highly distributive network is emerged to extend many or most of our aspects within our daily lives via data aggregation and all. 

Now we're wondering how much of interactivity in the future of media and communication. Believe it or not, this process has already started integrating into our lives without we even get to notice it. The answer is endless. Getting information is no longer a problem. Yet, having vast amounts of information coming from diverse devices and that our lives are heavily digitalised, is indeed a problem. Brian Fung(2013) goes on arguing about the scariest part related to the internet of things. His examples sound so cool when every item of our house will be able to respond to signals from one another independent of human input, such as the bathroom scale, as he has pointed it out, it might tell the refrigerator that a person's overweight, even more, they might start to recommend healthier tips and recipes. Just as what John Johnston (2012) has proven this point where he quoted from Dave Evans from Cisco, one meaningful fact to enter this era is where the internet of everything, which derived from internet of things, involves unprecedented opportunities to 'give things that were silent a voice'. And he also asserts that this concept will provide richer experiences, new capabilities to individuals to a nation as a whole. Not to mention that more and more things are becoming even more connected in our physical world, according to the data which shows that by 2020, it's believed that 37 billion things will be connected to the internet.

Now, will you feel overwhelmed by what's going on on our earth?

To what extent it starts to pose a threat to our lives when digitalisation has made everything become transparent. This is one important question left to answer. However, it's more of a thought that machine might even know more about ourselves than ourselves. Given one example of Google glasses, which individuals wear them to document their activities. In other words, memories can be projected onto a screen. Similarly, the augmented reality glasses turn one's life into a digitalised form. Imagine if your friend walks towards a place where you are standing at, in this situation, their distance from you is to be measured accurately if they are with augmented reality glasses. Would this make you feel that your privacy is being invaded when the information is given away too much? If this trend really takes over our future one day, everyone walks on the street with their glasses on, to aid them to locate their whereabouts as well as to search for a place. All the necessary skills will be taken away by this high-tech innovation when we no longer need to remember signs, locations and navigate our own way based on how we used to memorize things. Does this mean our capability will also be diminished owing to our obsession towards what this virtual screen brings us? And how much enjoyment left there when there is no adventures made by new experiences when everything is already set? 

Personally speaking, it's fascinated to see how internet of things exponentially fulfill our demands and needs, improve how well we connect to people and things, and how this interactivity of ubiquity liberates every transition we can make. However, I don't support the fact that our naturalness, the basis of being a human is gradually fading away. Well, nobody wants to be a cyborg right?

Now please enjoy one example of what real life will be like with INTERNET OF THINGS:

References:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/11/19/heres-the-scariest-part-about-the-internet-of-things/

http://www.the9billion.com/2012/11/11/how-the-internet-of-everything-will-transform-the-world/

http://petapixel.com/2012/11/04/how-wearable-sousveillance-cameras-will-transform-our-society/#PJwtMD8m0f8ql2wx.99

Affect: movement, activator and contagion

Before introducing the key term in this entry, please check out the video below    ENJOY~!!!

Everyday things that affect your mood, Youtube: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvJpy9EiwN4>

NOW think about these questions:

How everything around you affects your mood in number of ways?

Is emotion really the only thing that you express yourself?

What it really means to one's life when everything is linked?

Answers could be varied from person to person, but, AFFECT, does undeniably happen to be in every decision we make, every step we take, along with every consequence that happens at a given moment. I exceptionally like Massumi's(2002) definition 'where we might be able to go and what we might be able to do in every present situation'. And he goes on saying 'affect', is a concept that correlated to constant changes and creation of movement when we affect something, we are, in the meantime, also opening ourselves to be affected in turn. Even the slightest differences are still considered to be a transition of what is not the same as before. From this point of view, it is inclined to be a pragmatic definition in the change of capacity when our bodies are moved from one point to another, rather to stay at a static position. Apart from this, Massumi also suggests that such a movement, is a doubling, in other words, an experience is being intensified by a new experience, which in depth, it gives our bodies a kind of energy to 'accumulate in memory, in habit, in reflex, in desire, in tendency'. Hence, it's said to be relational the way we live that is entirely being embodied and that this embeddedness makes us connect and potentially innovates new ideas.

How this works? How do we make connection by the mean of affect? Given one simple example here, have you ever laughed at something more than half an hour with your friends at the cafe simply because each and every time any of you stops laughing, you see others are still continuously laughing out loud, it makes you laugh even more to the point that you choke yourself? I did, for several times, as crazy as it sounds. That has always been the happiest moment in my life. But my point here is, in a larger picture of affect, expressions such as laughter, as I have mentioned, is as powerful as to the point where it interrupts a situation, (once again), quoting from Massuri (sorry, I just love this article too much!), 'it forces this situation to attention', in this case, our laughter is filled with extreme happiness and obviously, we went teary from laughing way too much. Regardless, we somehow make 'instantaneous calculation or judgment', as he has pointed out, other expression like anger, it directly brings number of outcomes to the next moment such as breaking of relations, move towards violence. 

Not to go too far from here, but if this is the case, 'affect', is regarding to a series of process that each step we are taking is differentiate from one another, wouldn't 'affect' itself also an activator of each next move? From the journal of media and cultural studies Disaffected written by Gibbs and Anna(2002), they focus on Tomkin's theory in which it believes that 'affects' are indeed a primary motivational system, to amplify the drives and lend them urgency, in other words, to push one to respond to a certain circumstance. Without this responsiveness, movement won't be a movement. Every emotion and thought is to be activated in the sake of create another. Therefore, to say that, perhaps, sometimes a facial expression such as a smile, is an awareness based on the other person passes this smile at you as an activator. 

Now what does all this mean in terms of our communication through different manners? It can be applied to every aspect in our lives and experiences when it both directly and indirectly shape our future actions. It's true that 'affect' is contagious from all the examples I have given above, especially when we play games, our gaming experience will be externalised by our reactions and actions in response to that environment. This perspective is supported by attention, videogames and the retentional economies of affective amplification, written by Ash and James (2012), agree that affects particularly generate response but this is not all. Adding to what causes players' addition to their gaming experiences, they suggest affects are enhanced through the material and aesthetic design of products such as simple sound, the weapon from online game, the firing effect surrounds the gun makes it more tempted for the player to use that weapon. Though it may seem to be minor, but it's not unimportant at all. 

Now take a break and watch the following video of a gameplay trailer, will this kind of game interest you? If so, why?

     

The weapons, the coolness and bravery of a typical heroic character, the laser, the music or the arena? Or all?

In my point of view, the overall media power is spectacularly a magic for me when it takes place in everywhere, every second in my life. But it's affect that makes it happen, just like the days when I've been wondering why Gangnam style goes viral globally, a simple kid's laugh is re-edited to be a mash up video by other geniuses, and campaign such as the act of anti-bully spreads out on Facebook by lots of shares and likes. Munster and Anna(2013) claims that this immediate effect is subject to a matter of 'style' in exchange with larger audience out there with 'a shared singularity that emanates from their everydayness'. Within this atmosphere, we relate to this temporariness, get affected and hence, the things we feel within us turn that to an action by letting more people know about it. 

To conclude, our ongoing everyday bodily movements combined with our thought are comprised of great relations in transition in general. And this total of movements is expressively formed by affects and being affected.

To explore more, feel free to check out the following videos. The demonstration of 'affects' is indeed embedded in everyday basis!! *by the way, thanks Andrew for sharing that Thai ad video during the lecture, that was one of my favourites that I shared on my facebook a few weeks ago. I like how it touches my heart no matter how many times I've watched it :)*

 

      Can you even stop smiling/laughing when a baby hysterically laughs at ripping paper like this?

How does this Gif sound mashup in terms of its repetitive pattern and great humour effect generate/affect your viewing experience?

'Beauty patch' turns out to be a lie? How psychology affects how women see themselves? This is a video that has been popularized most recently and I love how this 'lie' eventually makes them see their true beauty.

Searching for touching videos is one of my habits so I come across with another touching Thai ad here this time. This is a great video in expressing the idea of what giving/kindness changes one's life.Within the video, the kindness was given 30 years ago has largely affected someone's life. But most importantly is that, by watching this video, I, as an audience also have learned something, felt the gratitude and my emotion has affected overall. How do you feel after watching this video?

References:

Ash, James (2012) ‘Attention, Videogames and the Retentional Economies of Affective Amplification’, Theory, Culture & Society, 29(6): 3-26

Gibbs, Anna (2002) ‘Disaffected’, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 16:3, 335-341, <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1030431022000018690>

Massumi, B and Zournazi, M.(2002) Navigating moments: A conversation with Brian Massumi, Hope: New Philosophies for Change Sydney: Pluto Press: 210-243

Munster, Anna (2013) ‘Going Viral: Contagion as Networked Affect, Networked Refrain’ in An Aesthesia of Networks: Conjunctive Experience in Art and Technology Cambridge, MA: MIT Press: 99-123

Social organisation-Collaboration

Looking at the examination of what last week's lecture has concluded, the contemporary changes within large-scale organisations is an outcome that undergoes a shift in the development of new forms of media and technologies, which has expanded communication and distribution within the public. In this entry, we will be focusing on micropolitics instead of 'Big politics' as referring to this week's content, which we put emphasis on how the society has adopted new approaches to reshape the society in a way of collaboration.

To start of this topic, in my own perspective, media, is an entirety that holds a great value bringing a larger group of people together; a base to create our social networks which serves as a platform to deliver messages to a community. The significance of my definition is to demonstrate the impact of current techniques for collaboration that are adopted in this stage. For example, the prevalence of P2P (peer to peer) networks is the distributive resources between users in such a way that collaboration takes a major role spreading the information to larger audience. This structure, in other words, has enabled a more open discussion atmosphere via virtual communities. That is, each individual network has become a form of resources in exchange of more resources from many others. Within this open and decentralised environment, the movement of common interest will be creating more connection between each other and that means, each transverse established frames involve 'experimentation and an openness to be experimental' (Jellis, 2009). It's also true to say that this method has allowed individuals and groups to empower the future. (Jellis 2009)

This is what new social media such as Facebook, Twitter have given us power to publish variety of contents and share with abundant resources that may be utilised for others. It is a democratic media outlet for the most fundamental, accurate creation to the contribution of any possible issues occur. Other than this, Collaboration and autonomy in journalistic practice are now encouraged to be multi-platform journalists, who are capable to distribute across different fields such as photography, online or film. What this means is that the establishment of a more diverse and stronger capabilities to adapt to a more dynamic digital world has come to the point where journalistic practices can be overlapped and enhanced at an extent of pushing collaboration to an even higher level. Example such as the #media2012 campaign in 30 seconds which is proposed to reach the collaborative purpose between social organisations and mainstream media organisations as a whole.

To conclude, the focus of this entry is correlated to Cain's article (2012), which has suggested the idea of new groupthink is genuinely expressed as the 'creativity and achievement come from an oddly gregarious place', the collaborative organization are now not exclusive to anybody but participants can be from anywhere to partially get involved, solve a single problem and meet the final goal.

References:
Jellis, T (2009), 'Disorientation and micropolitics: a response', spacesof [aesthetic] experimentation, <http://www.spacesofexperimentation.net/montreal/disorientation-and-micropolitics-a-response/>

Cain, S(2012) 'The Rise of the new groupthink', The New York Times, <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?_r=0>