Bonus mission #2

Why is second life not a game?

What is Second Life? It is a three-dimensional virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. In the software, which anyone can download for free, you travel around as an "avatar" representing yourself (with a different name), through a huge range of spaces - beautiful natural environments, shopping malls, museums, clubs, homes, apartments, cities and many more. (“Second life”, 2007)

The name itself “Second Life” on the whole suggest that it is not a game. In fact it sounds real just like having another life to live in. According to Steven Levy (2006), for millions around the world, a game like Second Life is “more than a game – it’s an escape, an obsession and a home.” After exploring second life, you will feel as if you are able to free your mind, imagine your wildest desires, visit all those places you have never been and meet real people you have never meet.

In second life, you not only can dress or makeup yourself like what you normally do in real life, but you have the privilege to create how you want your body shape to look like to how sharp your nose is. Having the chance to teleport to places you always dream to go to is just so great.

You also have the opportunity to buy land in Second Life using linden dollars. Not only that, you can also build things with the 3d tools and scripting them with LSL (Linden Scripting Language). Another amazing thing about Second Life is that whenever you are doing anything, you can see the other people who are nearby. This brings a dimension of social life which is so elemental to how we live our lives offline.

Thus to conclude, Second Life isn't a game. It's about fulfilling long buried fantasies, doing things that you have no way of doing in your real life, meeting fascinating people and mostly about creating the creative, imaginative, intelligent and promising future.

Citations

Kirkpatrick. D. (2007). Second life: It’s not a game. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from
http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/22/magazines/fortune/whatsnext_secondlife.fortune/index.htm

Second Life. (2007). In: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Second_Life&diff=120696573&oldid=120695922

Levy, S. (2007). In World of Warcraft: Is It a Game. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/print/1/displaymode/1098/.

QotW10: Wanna play for credits?


Me in Second life

SL Name: linia Hykova
Gender: female

I chose the name linia Hykova because i want a name that is not so much different from my real name. linia is just the backward spelling of ainil whereas hykova is the closest sounding of my second name which is hawa. As for my apperance, i still choose to have my long straight black hair and fair skin. The only difference that i made due to vanity and adventure sake is that, i chose to have light coloured eyes , amazingly tall and slim body and that i am dress to kill. Well, its second life! We are free to carry out our desires right? HEE..

I have chosen "Shops at the Top of the World" as my chosen destination. I guess be it real life or second life, the only thing that i would want to spend time on is to shop. Founding a place that has designer items on sale is just too hard for me to resist exploring. Not only that, this place is unique too as it is not only about shopping, it serves my other interest as well a it showcase the best art gallery in the world and the cartoon gallery.


The place " Shops at the Top of the World"

The best art gallery and cartoon gallery

Designer dresses and diamonds




The designer jewellery shop

QotW8: Adopt a local politician

Blog’s Title: nofearSingapore
Blog’s URL: http://nofearsingapore.blogspot.com/
Blogger’s Name: Huang Shoou Chyuan
Blogger’s Occupation: Citizen blogger,Doctor
Blog’s Date of Birth: May 2006
Technorati rank:


Dr Huang Soou Chyuan who is the proud owner of this blog should be praise and applauded for the way he delivers his views on political isssues. His blog sounded formal, professional, rational, respectful with no holds barred targeted at anyone. He is also an avid contributor to the Singapore Straits Times forums.

Do blogs allow for greater democracy?

Habermas develops the normative notion of the public sphere as a part of social life where citizens can exchange views on matters of importance to the common good, so that public opinion can be formed. This public sphere comes into being when people gather to discuss issues of political concern. (Thornton, 2002)

However, Minister of Communication and Arts, Balaji Sadasiva, announced that blogs and podcasts would be shut down if they ran overt political content in the runup to the May 6 election.(Giam)
So does greater democracy in blogs prevails in Singapore?

I chance upon this blog whose owner is Mark Glaser, a journalist, critic and new media expert. He had an interview with government minister Lee Boon Yang to get more insight into the new rules for blogs and podcasts. Here is what the QnA was about:

Why is streaming of explicit political content through podcasts or videocasts not allow? What is the worry?

The Internet has its own unique characteristics which require special attention. The Internet is, fast and anonymous. Once a false story or rumour is started on the Internet, it is almost impossible to put it right. Despite its usefulness, the Internet is chaotic and disorganised, with many half-truths and untruths masquerading as facts.

To help bring some order to this chaotic environment, we have made it a requirement for political parties and individuals who use websites to propagate or promote political issues to register with the Media Development Authority (MDA). This promotes accountability and also ensures personal responsibility for comments made on the Internet.

What I can conclude here is that blogs do allow for greater democracy if the bloggers are rationale and responsible towards their comments. Bloggers should engage in an intelligent discussion rather than engaging in deliberately provocative comments if they want a better taste of democracy. Like what Dr Huang Soou Chyuan says: This is our only Home. We want to engage society actively and constructively. Only by asking the right questions can we arrive at the correct answers. There is no need for fear as we are only doing what we must.

Citations:

Glaser, M. (February 2007). Singapore tries to squelch Political Blogs, Podcast. Retrieved March 23, 2007, from http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/04/digging_deepersingapore_tries_to_squelch_political_blogs_podcasts.html

Thornton, A. (2002). Does internet create democracy? Retrieved March 23, 2007, http://www.zip.com.au/%7Eathornto/thesis_200

Giam, Gerald (2006). "Review- The politics of Singapore's new media in 2006." Retrieved March 24, 2007, from http://theonlinecitizen.com/2006/12/31/review-the-politics-of-singapores-new-media-in-2006/

QotW6: Privacy, Surveillance, Sousveillance

Definition of privacy

Concerns for privacy were first aroused by Warren and Brandeis, who published their fear of privacy violations through the use of cameras and photographs. They also sparked off further research in this area and their paper became a landmark in privacy research. Their initial definition of privacy was simple, defining privacy to be the “right to be left alone” (Warren and Brandeis, 1890). With technological advances, people come to realize a greater need for privacy. Most notably, with the influx of Internet and Information Technology (IT), information sharing is as easy as the click of a button, making privacy a more crucial problem that requires immediate attention. According to Thomas Mathiesen, in the age of the internet, we are experiencing something that might be called the 'Omnipticon' in which the many are watching the many, even though no one knows precisely who is watching or being watched at any given time.

Dealing with privacy

Let us just review our email inbox. How often do we receive email spam? How many times have we got to submit our personal particulars, bank account numbers or that we need to register ourselves first before getting access to what we want online? According to Giddens, we feel increasing pressure to expose details of our personal lives to strangers in order to win their trust, and we demand that they expose themselves in order to win our trust in return.

One of my experiences dealing with privacy online would be in chat rooms. We are bound to encounter users who asked for our pictures or even phone numbers even after seconds of knowing. So how do I negotiate my privacy? When I find a chat room or forum that matches my interest, I introduce myself with only as much information as I feel comfortable giving. I do not plaster my phone number, address, pictures or any other personal information on the site. Only after I have met someone with whom I truly "click" and have spoken to them for awhile that I have trust in giving in more personal information about myself. Overall, I feel common sense and that "gut feeling" are great indicators for when you feel your privacy is being violated.

As for offline privacy, what strike me first would be the private lives of public figures and celebrities. I feel that media should only watch and report on them if what they are doing is illegal and immoral or if it would affect the nation in a detrimental way. The media should leave alone issues that are private and personal to public figures and celebrities. After all, they are human beings just like us. We just wish to be on our own, unwatched and respected.

Citations

Rosen, J. (July, 2004). The Naked Crowd. Retrieved March 7, 2007, from
http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

Federal Trade Commision. (2003). Privacy Online. Retrieved March 7, 2007, from
http://www.shopping-online-guide.com/Privacy%20Online.htm

Warren, S.D.,Brandeis, L.D. (1999). The Right to Privacy. Retrieved March 7, 2007, from http://www.lawrence.edu/fast/boardmaw/Privacy_brand_warr2.html

QotW5: Online Identity, Reputation, Deception

Our real-life identity is known to those around us and is difficult to control. This includes our race, status, occupation and level of education. (Wikipedia,2007)

As for online identity which is common for people to have now, we are free to redefine ourselves at our own wish.(Wikipedia, 2007). Said Sartre in Being and Nothingness, ``I am my body to the extent that I am,'' The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter. Information spreads and diffuses; there is no law of the conservation of information. The inhabitants of this impalpable space are also diffuse, free from the body's unifying anchor. One can have, some claim, as many electronic personas as one has time and energy to create. (Donath,J).Online identity can also establish both reputation and deception.

An online identity that I am familiar with and that I had engaged in the past is the IRC (Internet Relay Chat). To participate in the IRC, as most of us know, we need to have a nickname for ourselves and it is unlikely or uncommon for anyone to use their real name in the cyber world. I named myself ‘MissBliss’. Basically, I wanted to build a reputation of myself as someone who is happy, cheerful, contented and open-minded to the cyber users out there.

I feel that almost all IRC users aim to create a reputation that benefits them. Those who feel that they are not so pretty and handsome in real life may present themselves online as much better looking. Those who are not so educated may want to fake their level of education just to make the other users online perceived them as more superior. The young may want to relate themselves in a more mature way while those who are matured pretended to be young online. Well, not all IRC users react in that manner. Some may portray their true real-life identity online but overall, each aim to create their own reputation which benefits them.

IRC users consist of different individuals. They may be a model, a teacher, a nurse or even a doctor! So how can someone else assume this online identity? Just fake and pretend to be one! A teacher in IRC may not be a teacher in real-life identity. A model in IRC may not be a model in real-life identity. Honestly speaking, I had tried once changing my true identity in IRC and explored how it affects the number of IRC users that tag me. I feel that to engage in IRC, it is important for one to be mature and critical enough to tackle the deceptions that surround the cyber world.

To conclude, IRC should be mentioned in particular as one of the good examples of online identity as it paved way for new online identities such as IM, Blogs and MMORPGS. Creating an online identity is fun and interesting. It may also be a form of escapism for some of us. Online identity is indeed a booming trend sought after by many.

Citations

Donath, J. (1996).Identity and deception in the virtual community. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Wikipedia. (February 15, 2007). Online Identity. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_identity

Suler, John.(April 2000). Identity Management in Cyberspace. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from http://www.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/identitymanage.html

QotW4: Gift economies

It is Better To Give Than To Receive

This very old idea is beginning to again draw the attention to us. Afterall,humans are an interdependent class of life. All humans need help unless they wish to live at the level of animal subsistence. Interdependence means some times I depend on others and sometimes others depend on me.This is the reason why there is a great amount of sharing and cooperation that does occur in online communities.

Rheingold (1993) has described interaction in one online community (the WELL) as consisting of a gift economy, in which help and information is offered without the expectation of any direct, immediate quid-pro-quo. Even in more anonymous settings, such as Usenet discussion groups, there is a surprising amount of free help and information given out, often to complete strangers whom one may never meet again.

In a gift economy, benefits come from improving the “technology of social relations” by, for example, increasing the range and diversity of one's social network. (Bell, 1991)

Possible motivation for this kind of sharing and cooperation that relax the assumption of egoism and that individuals do care to some degree about the outcomes of others are:

One possibility is that a person is motivated to contribute valuable information to the group in the expectation that one will receive useful help and information in return; that is, the motivation is an anticipated reciprocity. (Kollock,1993)

A second possible motivation is the effect of contributions on one's reputation. High quality information, impressive technical details in one's answers, a willingness to help others, and elegant writing can all work to increase one's prestige in the community. (Rheingold, 1993)


An example of a gift economy that I am familiar with is blogging.
Blogs, which was once the preserve of a small minority is now a mass phenomenon. Personally, i feel that blogs has become an excellent channel for users to share, learn, understand, take charge and to change our world. In this modern society,gaining knowledge about certain issues is no longer only dependent on the newspapers, television news or radio. People now place more attention to reading others blogs to serve their needs. Let us just take our academic blogs for an example. We are indeed sharing our knowledge to others who visit out blogs. In return, we seek to others blogs to obtain extra information for our own good.

Blogs is considered an excellent example of a gift economy because not only it is free, it makes us discover many new things that others have share.Bloggers write their views, share experiences and post interesting pictures online.I have a few bloggers under my favourite list. One loves exploring new eateries and she frequently updates on any new eateries she has been too. Another blogger who is also a local celebrity recently set up a blog just to promote good quality shoes online for sale. I also like this particular blogger who is a frequent traveller who writes on her interesting trips and post amazing holidays pictures.

To conclude, blogs is definitely one example of a gift economy as those who share whatever views, ideas or experiences do not expect immediate returns or comments from their readers. They will be more than happy to know that their blogs have a high hit list! May gift economies like blogs continues to bloom!

Kollock, P. (1999). The Economies of Online Cooperation:
Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace. Retrieved February 7, 2007, from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.

Barbrook, R. (2005). The High Tech Gift Economy.Retrieved February 7, 2007, from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_12/barbrook/

Polland, D. (April, 2005).The Gift Economy. Retrievev February 8, 2007, from http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/04/17.html

Pinchot, G. (Summer, 1995). The Gift Economy. Retrieved February 8, 2007, from http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm

Raymond, E.S. (October 17, 2003). The Gift Economy. Retrieved February 8, 2007, from http://futurepositive.synearth.net/stories/storyReader$223

QotW3: Sharing, Copyright and Creative Culture

The legal world is aware that digital information technology poses problems for copyright: a fundamental conflict between publishers of copyrighted works and the users of these works.

Copyright is a specialized form of property law that recognizes that works of original expression belong to the person who created them. Today that doesn't seem very remarkable; we hardly give it a thought.(Peter Givler,2003)

Copyright holders had certain exclusive rights over their material, but those rights were tempered by access rights held by the public.(Peter Givler,2003). The three most important public rights were the public domain, fair use, and first sale.

Copyright has always been just a temporary monopoly, and by Constitutional edict it can only last for a "limited time".(Howard Besser,2001). When a copyright expires, the work enters the public domain. Anyone can draw on material in the public domain for any purpose whatsoever. Unlike material under copyright, no one can charge users for using the public domain or prevent them from using public domain.

Fair Use allows students to photocopy copyrighted articles for personal use, teachers to read excerpts from copyrighted works in class, reviewers to quote from copyrighted works in their published reviews, and satirists to incorporate portions of copyrighted works into their satires.

According to first sale, anyone who purchases a work can then do what they want with that copy, even if the rightsholder opposes that use.(Howard Besser,2001). First sale allows the purchaser of a work to resell it, lend it, share it, or destroy it without ever consulting the rightsholder. Among other social benefits, the first sale doctrine has permitted libraries, used bookstores, and used record stores to operate without having to consult with a rightsholder each time they lend or sell a work.

The content industry fears that fair use and first sale in the digital age will cause them to lose significant control over their copyrighted content, threatening their profits.(Richard Stallman,2006). Because a digital work is so easy to copy, many rightsholders fear that fair use will provide a loophole for individuals who wish to redistribute a work to others. They also fear that first sale will permit their first buyer to redistribute a work for free, ruining the rightsholderís market and destroying authorship incentives. These fears have been the rationale stated by the content industry in their attempts to press for legislation which would virtually eliminate fair use and first sale in the digital world.

United States copyright law considers copyright a bargain between the public and content creators. The public trades certain freedoms in exchange for more published works to enjoy. Copyright involves giving up specific freedoms and retaining others. This means that there are many alternative bargains that the public could offer to publishers. So which bargain is the best one for the public? Which freedoms are worth while for the public to trade, and for what length of time? The answers depend on two things: how much additional publication the public will get for trading a given freedom, and how much the public benefits from keeping that freedom.(Richard Stallman,2006)


References
Besser, Howard. (2001, March 19). Intellectual Property: The attack on public space in cyberspace. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/~howard/Papers/pw-public-spaces.html

Givler, Peter. (2003, May 9). Copyright: It’s for the public good. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from
http://aaupnet.org/aboutup/copyright.htmlStallman, Richard. (2006, April 6). Reevaluating Copyright: The public must prevail. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/reevaluating-copyright.html

“COM125 Week2: Electronic Mail”

History of the Electronic Mail (EMAIL)

Despite what the World Wide Web offers, email remains the most important application of the Internet and the most widely used facility it has. Now more than 600 million people internationally use email.("Peter, Ian: The History of email",n.d.).

Email evolved from very simple beginnings.Early email was just a small advance on what we know these days as a file directory. They just put a message in another user's directory in a spot where they could see it when they logged in.

Probably the first email system of this type was MAILBOX, used at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1965. Another early program to send messages on the same computer was called SNDMSG.("Peter, Ian: The History of email",n.d.).

Before internetworking began, email could only be used to send messages to various users of the same computer. Once computers began to talk to each other over networks, the problem became a little more complex. They needed to be able to put a message in an envelope and address it. To do this, they needed a means to indicate to whom letters should go to so that the electronic posties be understood.

This is why Ray Tomlinson is credited with inventing email in 1972.("Peter, Ian: The History of email",n.d.).Like many of the Internet inventors, Tomlinson worked for Bolt Beranek and Newman as an ARPANET contractor. He picked the @ symbol from the computer keyboard to denote sending messages from one computer to another. So then, for anyone using Internet standards, it was simply a matter of nominating name-of-the-user@name-of-the-computer.("Peter, Ian: The History of email",n.d.).

Things developed rapidly from there. Larry Roberts invented some email folders for his boss so he could sort his mail, which is a big advance.("Lowe, Richard: The First Email",(n.d.).In 1975 John Vital developed some software to organize email. By 1976 email had really taken off, and commercial packages began to appear. Within a couple of years, 75% of all ARPANET traffic was email.("Lowe, Richard: The First Email",(n.d.).

The first important email standard was called SMTP, or simple message transfer protocol.("Peter, Ian: The History of email",n.d.).SMTP was a fairly naive protocol, and made no attempt to find out whether the person claiming to send a message was the person they purported to be. Forgery was (and still is) very easy in email addresses. These basic flaws in the protocol were later to be exploited by viruses, by security frauds and spammers.("Peter, Ian: The History of email",n.d.).

But as it developed, email started to take on some pretty neat features. One of the first good commercial systems was Eudora, developed by Steve Dorner in 1988.("Lowe, Richard: The First Email",(n.d.).Not long after Pegasus mail appeared. When Internet standards for email began to mature the POP (or Post Office Protocol) servers began to appear as a standard - before that each server was a little different. POP was an important standard to allow users to develop mail systems that would work with each other. With the World Wide Web, email started to be made available with friendly web interfaces by providers such as Yahoo and Hotmail.("Lowe, Richard: The First Email",(n.d.).

Benefits of Email

The use of email in undoubtedly viewed as a wonderful convenience to many individuals. It is now possible to avoid the long period of waiting that is unavoidable before one is able to ascertain whether an important letter has arrived safely in one’s mailbox. With email, the letter can be sent and received within seconds, no postage fee needed and no searching around for an envelope.

This form of convenience and speed would not only safe time and money for the individuals, it has also herald a change in the working habits of society. Now, more people find it feasible to work at home, at their own time for the use of email would enable these people to send in their projects and proposals on time.

Email is also a boon for those working or studying overseas. These individuals find it easy to trade greetings, information and discussions through email. Email also allows much more than a telephone call. One can send attachments of music files, pictures and many other things along with a short note which makes email feel more interactive than a telephone call.

Cons of Email

Still, despite the many conveniences that the increasing use of email would bring, all is not a bed of roses. The anonymity and easy access to email often results in one’s mailbox being flooded with spam mail and useless chain letters. In any case, it has become an established fact that it is through email and their attachments that viruses are most often spread. This would pose a threat to individuals, even to society, for once email is widely used, viruses attack would be an incredible disruption to society just like the case of “Chenobyl Virus” which wiped out the memories of numerous personal and business computers all around the world.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be seen that just as new technology has brought about benefits, it also brings about new problems. We thus need to exercise self control to prevent abuse on this new technology. Only then can we benefit from the advantages of email and not lose our humanity.


References

Wikipedia. (2007, January 25). Email. Retrieved January 25, 2007, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email

Peter, Ian: The History of email (n.d.) Retrieved January 25, 2007, from
http://www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/email.html

Lowe, Richard: Mail Msg (n.d.) Retrieved January 26, 2007, from
http://www.mailmsg.com/

Lowe, Richard: The First Email (n.d.) Retrieved January 26, 2007, from
http://www.mailmsg.com/history.htm

Forward in the Fifth: Advantages and Disadvantages of email (n.d.) Retrieved January 26, 2007, from http://www.fif.org/olt4a/olt4aadvantages.htm

Passion Computing: Using email effectively (n.d.) Retrieved January 26, 2007, from
http://www.passioncomputing.com.au/Web_Copywriting/Using_email.aspx