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The Internet and its History...I really didn't know too much about its history - I can just remember being allowed to open a Hotmail account and since that blessed night I'd be emailing all my little girly friends the weekly goss. Its amazing to see what is possible with the internet now... in the 21st Century.With one click 100,000,000 websites will list in front of you for one query, any question under the sun you have can be answered and you can even watched videos from around the world. This therefore will be the topic of my essay: the evolution of the Computer! (In my later blog I will list the 3 academic articles that relate to my topic.)
The Scavenger Hunt: (all found via Ask.com)
1. The weight of the world's biggest pumpkin is 1502 pounds to date.
Resource: http://www.bigpumpkins.com.au
2. Grant Hackett is contactable via his management:
International Quarterback Pty Ltd, Suite 9, 36 Agnes Street, Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006
Telephone: (07) 3252 2311
Resource: http://www.celebrity-addresses.com
3. The giraffe's prehensile tongue, measures approximately 18 inches in length.
www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-giraffe.html
4. Ontology is a structured way of speaking to describe a concept or method.
http://magpie.ucalgary.ca/magpie/help/magpie_ontology_definition.html
5. 'Transfer' produced in 1966 was David Cronenberg's first full length feature film.
http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/11/30/cronenberg/
6. Hacker's Manifesto was originally written in 1986 by Loyd Blankenship
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=550465
7. The entertainment industry decided to use '555' as the beginning digits for all phone numbers in America several years ago, because viewers were memorizing the phone numbers actors used and calling them. No actual phone numbers in the U.S. begin with '555'.
http://www.briomag.com/briomagazine/soulfood/A0005924.html
8. Taking a ferry is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes.
http://www.athensguide.com/ferries.html
9. The Seeker's "I'll never find another you" was number 1 this week on the Australian Pop Chart in 1965.
http://www.onlineweb.com/theones/1965_1969.htm
10. The Black Assassins
http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm
Search engines....
- Search engines maintain databases of websites and use software programs to collect information asked for by the user.
- They rank the information retrieved based on the relevancy to the search terms used, frequency of keywords on a search page, popularity of site listed in relation to search terms, etc.
- Sites listed at the top of search results indicate that they have the higher frequency of keywords on the page, the site is highly popular, the site is a sponsor of the search engine, etc.
- Ask.com and Google are my favourite search engines. Google compiles information from everywhere and anywhere and allows a broader search. Whereas, Ask.com allows specific questions to be answered. Both search engines are effective and useful in different ways.
- Search Engines in current news stories:
- "Google omits controversial news stories in China" (http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6426)
- "Is Google too powerful?" (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_15/b4029001.htm)
- "Ask.com becoming the search engine that could (http://news.com.com/Ask.com+becoming+the+search+engine+that+could/2100-1038_3-6132473.html)
- "AltaVista to climb new heights with IPO" (http://news.com.com/AltaVista+to+climb+new+heights+with+IPO/2100-1040_3-265557.html)
Wow... the internet truly is a big deal.
An evolved species....
Since its birth the computer has evolved in many ways - obviously the level of technology has increased and improved, the use of the computer and the physical appearance have both changed.
The 'Bombe' was the first working computer developed by Alan Turing in 1912 and was used to break secret German 'Enigma' codes. This breakthrough machine was put to the test by assessing whether or not a judge could determine between the human and the computer doing the work. The 'Bombe' was large in size, quite loud and required many hours of decyphering and recording messages. Almost a century later in the 'technology age', with Turin's amazing contraption in a museum; we can sit in front of a stylish compact machine and with a few clicks of the mouse have all of our personal files, business programs and stored data organised and easily accessable.
Big players in this field Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak combined forces in around 1980 to home-make PCs... their garage based idea named 'Apple' slowly but surely became one of the largest empires in the technology world. Beginning with software development and hardware production; Apple and its competitor Microsoft are now multi-million dollar companies.
Computers have evolved from the humble box with knobs and buttons to portable, compact technology devices capable of playing music, videos, wireless communication and storing huge amounts of data in organised filing systems.
It is safe to say that computers will never stay the same - they will upgrade, improve and be altered until we have the fastest, most reliable and personal computers in every home.
I am personally not one to spend hours in front of the computer; but my frequent use of it for assignments, research or to keep in touch with friends, has built a greater appreciation for it. This appreciation grew into a realisation that without it, my everyday life would not run as smoothly as it does and my routine tasks would not be so convenient as they are today, thanks to the help of technology.
The development of society lead to a growth in the communication/technology realm. Many began to realise that there were ways to improve everyday life with convenience, entertainment and a greater link with the wider world.
A few key theories stand out from the study of Media Theory, Marshall McLuhan and Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky. McLuhan's theory, published in 1964, explored the effects of media throughout society. This theory studied the different media effects on physical senses. I believe this theory has formed a foundation of media development by using these elements to maximise the affects on the minds and responses of the audience.
An outake of Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky's 'The Propaganda Model' developed in the 1980s described their opinion on how the Return of Maximum effects has shaped how technology has been developed to target the audience in a specific way. "
We noted that the five factors involved -- ownership, advertising, sourcing, flak, and anticommunist ideology -- work as "filters" through which information must pass, and that individually and often in additive fashion they help shape media choices." (The Propaganda Model Revisited; Edward S. Herman, Monthly Review, July, 1996)
This is my first year at Griffith and my second tutorial in New Communication Technologies. At first I wondered why I am in this subject... but slowly and surely my assumptions and expectations are challenged. I now realise that the past theories and foundations of communication technology research are vital to the growth and progress for future ventures and development.
So sometime between December - January, Paul and Leanne Beasley combined forces to bring a child into the world. 9 months later Tiffanie Alice Beasley was born. I have 2 older brothers Bruce and Roger and an older sister Samara. She is basically my twin (separated 2 years in the womb) and what they say about twins stealing and sharing is basically true in the traits we ended up with. Samara got the brains and I got... well we're still figuring out the 'gift' I scored at birth. I originally resided in Toowoomba, yes I do know that it means "Swampland" in Aborigine... but no, I did not grow up as on a marsh. Then in the destined year of 2006 my family decided to leave the green pastures of Toowoomba and move to the sunny shores of the Gold Coast. It was then I reaslied there was more outside 'the womb' that had to be explored and left my super cool friends whom I repeatedly cherish, and packed for the big smoke. So me in a metaphorical nutshell; I don't enjoy long walks on the beach or roast dinners by the fire... but I do enjoy music (playing guitar in particular), singing and roadtrips or anything random with quality people. Uni is a step in the 'life-track' I'm taking on... I don't know where I want to go in life but I do know I want to go everywhere.
