Course Summary

New Communications Technologies has been one of my favorite courses this semester. Dealing with issues such as the internet, computers, media and media on the internet, screen and film and many other topics, I have found the course informative. The early lectures on the history of the computer and the internet was quite interesting because these things are so much embedded in our culture today. Adam's discussion on web 2.0 and Free Culture was interesting. Learning the purpose of creative commons and how it works has enabled me to be more aware to publish my own creations in these spaces. Josh Nichol’s lectures on the screen and consumption and production taught me about how our world is changing with technology. Media and entertainment can be accessed on the fly because of creations like the iPhone and iPod touch. The fact that people use to watch trees blowing in the wind on film just because it was on film and this made it exciting, tells me how far we have come. There is still no looking back, technology is continuing to evolve and breaking new frontiers.

Later on in the course, politics on the internet was introduced. Terms like eDemocracy and cyberpunk were introduced. Understanding that hackers are not actually bad or always considered criminals was good to know. I had always associated hackers with doing something wrong. I learnt that these people doing the wrong thing with computers and the internet are mainly known as crackers; although, hackers can be harmful - this would be when they break away from their 'Hacker Ethic'. We learnt about a specific code that hackers adhere to and agree to not use the information they discover in harmful or destructive ways. This 'Hacker Ethic' or code began in the 1960's. Learning all of these interesting facts and ideas added to my enjoyment of the course. I liked the idea of having to start up my own blog and being able to show my friends what I've been doing in this course.

Jason Nelson conducted an eventful lecture and showed us all that he doesn't struggle from shyness. I liked his style. His discussion on the .com crash and rethinking of ways to use the internet was of importance to other content we had learned. It interrelated with some of the topics Adam covered in discussing web 2.0 - the introduction of the more socially oriented internet world. I have to say, the whole idea of Active worlds and Second life got to me. They seem so pointless and Jason Nelson brought this up in his lecture. He said exactly that - that they really have no purpose or point and are designed to really do nothing.

Overall the course has been good and I look forward to some more informative lectures and readings to come.