Welcome to the New World Order - Essay Topic 1 (Week 12)

Legendary Rhythm ‘n’ Blues artist B.B king once sung, “There must be a better world somewhere”. [10] It can be thought that this “somewhere” is the continuously evolving phenomenon known universally as “the internet”. The internet can be thought of as, “the series of interconnected networks allowing communication of data among millions of computers worldwide”. [11] Marc Prensky’s “Emerging Online Life of The Digital Native” [7] and David Weinberger’s “A New World” [12] both present different views of modern-day Internet users. This essay will discuss, through specific reasons and examples, the importance of both “The New World” (The Internet) and becoming a “Digital Native” (new age Internet users) and if they are in fact accurate portrayals.

David Weinberger discusses the internet as a new world we have created for each other, a world that consists of no rules and believes that this is something that is important, so we are able to break away from our normal and arbitrary daily lives. [12] He states that “the internet is a new world to us that we are new to and are currently inhabiting, learning as we go. Similarly to settlers of a country, however there is no landscape, time or space”. [14]
Marc Prensky on the other hand, mainly discusses the differences between “Digital Natives” and “Digital Immigrants”. “Digital Natives” are discussed as being self taught, knowledgeable of the internet and are often of a younger generation, whereas “Digital Immigrants” are newer to the internet, ignorant of how to use many things online/via the internet and are often of an older generation. [7]

Why is the internet of such great importance to modern day society?

The internet is argued to be one of the best theoretical and practical learning tools available, and thus must take advantage of it as much as possible. David Weinberger and Marc Prensky discuss “e-learning” as an important modern tool in that it enables us to learn faster, more effectively and more efficiently through a mere click of a mouse. [7] [12] Not only can we learn individually through the internet but we are able to quickly share our knowledge with each other also, and thus are able to grow and evolve together. [3] Studies have shown that within the realm of education that teachers, parents, administrators and instructors must bridge the learning gap that exists between Digital Natives and the Digital Immigrants by becoming more up to date and computer savvy. [8]

“The single biggest problem facing education today is that our digital immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language”. [8] There are arguments toward the need to be able to steer in the right direction and find a common ground where children’s learning is facilitated through their preferred learning choice; the internet. [1] [6] David Weinberger discusses that the internet enables us to get away from the restrictions of our everyday world, and allows us to be as free as humanly and digitally possible. [12] When we go online we can become whomever we like and discuss matters that are taboo (such as women discussing sex or boyfriends in Iran) [5] or just plain embarrassing (such as discreetly looking for information about how to get rid of an STD). Online Weblogs can be thought of as an ideal place for such discussion and is important in one’s everyday freedom of speech, regardless of what country one lives in. [13]

Possibly one of the strongest arguments as to why the internet is so important to us now is “life after death” and evolution. Through the web, and as illustrated by Prensky, one can literally live forever and be remembered through posted words, pictures and video displays. [7] Not everyone leaves behind their legacies and is able to, or wants to create children. We all want to leave behind something; the internet is undoubtedly a perfect outlet for all beings to do so, regardless of age, sex or ethnicity. It can also be suggested that due to the curious nature of all humans, the search and thus development of the internet will not cease until it is mastered, as illustrated by Weinberger. [12]

However, criticism must also be taken into consideration when contemplating if Marc Prensky’s “Emerging Online Life of The Digital Native” [7] and David Weinberger’s “A New World” [12] are both accurate portrayals. It has been argued that the internet and Marc Prensky’s terminology of Digital Natives are incorrect. Opposing arguments state that the majority of students are in fact not very sophisticated or knowledgeable in their use of information technologies, and show very little intention of learning anything but the most basic skills. [4] Furthermore, studies have found that students were more eager to use computers at home than in school. Their reasons were that they felt too limited in the time they had to use the computers. It is also argued that people of a younger generation are better at using computers for things such as “looking up cheats for computer games”, although not for important things such as searching and accessing information for a school project. [2]

Not only have opposing arguments attempted to debunk the definitions of “Digital Natives”, but Weinberger’s outlook of a “New World” must also be thought about in somewhat of a critical manner. Studies conducted have found that Internet addiction is an emerging clinical disorder that can impair individual’s academic, social and occupational areas. [9] This suggests that even though we may in fact be moving towards and inhibiting a “New World”, [12] we must continuously be aware of the potential hazards that exist for individuals who spend too much time on their computer and fall victim to this modern addiction.

In conclusion, both supporting and opposing arguments must be taken into consideration since the viewpoints of the internet can become quite complex, and are far from concrete or objective. However, it can be said that the internet does not discriminate and the freedom it supplies is second to none. We may indeed make mistakes along the way, and it may have its underlying and apparent faults, although there is a need in continuing to find these faults and to constantly make and overcome these mistakes in order for our societies to learn, grow and evolve together. Even though we can be made aware of the criticisms against Marc Prensky and David Weinberger, we should still be attempting to make this “New World” [12] second nature to us, by becoming and maintaining ourselves as “Digital Natives”, [7] so as not to be left behind; because whether we like it or not change is inevitable.

References

[1] Adlington, Rachael, & Hansford, Diane 2008, ‘Digital spaces and young people’s online authoring: Challenges for teachers’, National Conference for Teachers of English and Literacy, Adelaide, South Australia, pp. 1-13.

[2] Bennett, Sue, Maton, Karl, & Kervin, Lisa 2008, ‘The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence’, British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 775–786.

[3] Downes, Stephen 2010, ‘Learning networks and connective knowledge’, IGI Global, pp. 1-26.

[4] Herold, David K. n.d., ‘Digital na(t)ives: Discourses of exclusion in an inclusive society’ (No journal).

[5] Hevern, Vincent W. 2004, ‘Threaded identity in cyberspace: Weblogs & positioning in the dialogical self’, Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 321–335.

[6] Mentis, Alexander n.d., ‘Virtual learning and the tech generation debate’, (No journal).

[7] Prensky, Marc 2004, ‘Emerging online life of the digital native’, (No journal), pp. 1-14.

[8] Rich, Jim n.d., ‘Prensky’s Digital natives versus digital immigrants: Urban legend, fact, or fiction?’, (No journal), pp. 1-17.

[9] Young, Kimberly S. 1998, ‘Internet addiction: The emergence of a new clinical disorder’, CyberPsychology & Behaviour, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 237-244.

[10] Lyricsbox 2009, viewed 16 October 2009,

[11] Shorter College n.d., Livingston Libraries, viewed 16 October 2009,

[12] Weinberger, David 2002, A New World, viewed 9 October 2009,

[13] Weinberger, David 2008, ‘Everything is miscellaneous’, Topic Maps, Oslo. http://www.topicmaps.com/tm2008/weinberger.pdf

[14] Yee, Danny, 2002, Small pieces loosely joined: a unified theory of the web, viewed 16 October 2009,

"Artwork" (Week 9)

SourceForge.net was one of the sites that Jason discussed in his lecture and I thought it would lead me to be able to create all sorts all wonderful art pieces…… Boy was I wrong! After downloading programs like Inkscape, Meshlab, Hugin and various others, and spending countless hours attempting to create something on sourceforge.net, I realised I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I attempted some independant searching also on

- Top 9 Art - oriented Software programs: http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/designandcreate/tp/artsoftware.htm
- Blueman Group: http://art.blueman.com/message.php
- Art.com artPad:http://artpad.art.com/artpad/painter/

…. It then dawned on me that creating something on a computer has far less artistic meaning to me than a bowl of porridge. With that being said I realise people are capable of creating outstanding pieces of art work with help from the computer, although since I have never been particularly interested in spending too long on the computer than necessary (or particularly good at it) then I would like to take a different approach in showing some of the various aspects that I would classify as “Art”:

Let’s start of with something simple shall we. This is a piece of art work I did when I was 14-15 years old on an old wooden board. It may not be the best painting done and it is a bit random but I remembered the joy it brought to me in just being able to express myself in this manner. Plus, I’m not sure how many of you have tried this, but painting on an old wooden plank can be quite difficult indeed!

This next piece is a painting of 2 canvases my mum did after I painted my house in the same colours. She painted it as a sort of a house warming present for my partner and I. Being that she is my mum I couldn’t exactly refuse because I saw how proud she was of herself. They aren’t too bad, although they remind me of two feathers, two spines or two strands of DNA…

These next two pieces are my two favourite cards that I have kept over the years. I decided to scan them onto the computer and upload them to show you what I mean. Perhaps you are already familiar with one, or both of them…

This is my favourite inspirational card and always brings about a smile when looking at it. It says “If you can dream it, you can do it”. – Michael Flynne

This is an amusing card saying that “Life is an endless struggle, but eventually you find a hairdresser you like!” It always brings me joy and laughter when reading it.

This picture is an old, old picture of my Farmor och Farfar (Swedish Grandmother and Grandfather) in the 1940’s holding my uncle when he was a baby.

My Grandfathers art form was boxing and later handball where he won Swedish, European and world championships. He even won an Olympic medal and was one of the best goal scorers of his generation. Unfortunately I have no pictures of him, however I did manage to find and scan an old Australian boxing collage during his generation.

For ten years of my life Basketball was my one and only passion, expression and art form. I played for various regional, state and club teams in Australia. I was eventually fortunate enough to make it to a professional level in Sweden, where I played for a couple of pro teams. I even had some basketball cards made of me in Sweden and have been looking everywhere for them but to no avail. I must have left them back in Sweden where my father and younger brother are currently living. Instead, I found an old picture of when I was playing in the Australian under 16 championships in Adelaide, 2002:

The next lot of pictures I have scanned in are of my father. This first one is a T-shirt that was made after he was in the film Mad Max 2 – The road warrior. I recall my brother and I wearing them when we were merely 5 and 3 years old. It is now a kind of framed memorabilia that is amusing and makes me reminisce whenever I look at it…

The second picture of my old man is an old 1990’s pictures I scanned in of him and Jimmy Barnes. They were actually quite good mates once upon a time. Jimmy stayed with dad during his tour in Sweden and I was lucky enough to meet him and the band members of Cold Chisel during their “Last wave of summer” tour in Australia. Singing in tune is hard enough, but screaming in tune is a type of Art that not many people can pull off. Jimmy certainly could though…

These final two pictures that I have scanned are from my father and his days as a professional bodybuilder. I wanted to end with these two because I feel that body art is the most difficult kind of art to master. Just as an artist would create a statue or clay sculpture, bodybuilders form their bodies in a similar fashion. However it is more time consuming and is more agonising to go through the experience yourself. Body sculpturing/Bodybuilding has always fascinated me. I consider it to be the most self practical artwork there is, where one literally becomes the piece of art through muscular transformation. To become a bodybuilder one has to sacrifice so much and has to strive a lifetime to truly create a walking, talking masterpiece.

Finally I would like to finish off with revealing something that not that many people know of. These are lyrics to a song that I ghost wrote for an MC I met in Sweden during the time I was playing basketball. I always wrote things down after games on the team bus or before I would go to sleep because I needed another outlet for my expressionism. I had and still have books and books of content. When guys used to ask me what I was writing, I would say “they’re rap lyrics man”. Although when a nice lady would ask I would always say, “Oh that, that’s just my poetry”… Some pretty amusing times indeed. These particular set of lyrics initially began as a joke but the rapper ended up liking the stuff I wrote and made a few songs from this and some of my other content in his studio. I feel the content is far from professional, although I was flattered nonetheless….

Intro

Getting ready to spit like illmatic, still have it, With Hamlet skills my lasting will you can’t match it, smash wit slick like lubed pricks I’m comin’ at-cha, catch-a phat whip-ass quick fast withstand blasts from any which way they may hit, mayday it’s looking grey, prey is all you can do shit, rhythm n blues are there to be sung, haven’t even begun, my warm-up so come get some I fear none/ Uh

Chorus(x4): How many people out there, do really care, about expression, livin’ life our learnt lessons

Verse 1

Now allow me to no less express myself with good intentions, takin’ you to another dimension, The world looks bleek disturbed no peace re-word my piece of poetry so you can see, indeed defeat is where we’re headed embedded in our brain, is this the pain in that we cannot change, so untamed will not still got to try or we will die, estranged this way but still I do nuthin’, huffin’ n puffin’ the average Joe blow lame, “it’s not my fault it’s his I did nothing wrong” same, song and dance act we practise again and again, and close our eyes now step back as we all pretend, that all is swell and go about business as usual, well open your eyes it’s not a picture perfect paradise like guys, I wish I don’t die n end up in hells fire, we all run and hide with church Sunday lies, completely blind to the fact we’re all the devil is disguise/ Let’s ride

Chorus (x4)

Verse 2

Expression can be depressin’ especially if no one’s listenin’, whistlin’ to tunes circulatin’ like messages, bless-ed be to all people lookin’ forward, toward a brighter future I’ll try to shoot ya, with piercing lyrics if ya ignore like ignorance distorted, can you hear the hysterics with which order was the boarder before the alleged superior recked and tortured, the interior of inferior, beings believe it it seems dreams were shattered, before being civilised even mattered, the latter screams truth but we get rude and confused, don’t wanna listen that’s fine then this one’s for you/ (Que it)

Chorus: How many people out there do really care…..

Neh hold up I’m far from done, listen up numb skulls, you don’t get subtle, so let me restate n re-buttal, I’m takin’ off the muzzle pumpin’ up the muscles, you wanna tussle with the poor yet justify it with your lord, with your behaviour I’m appalled I’m disabling the cord, from the mic that hangs, bear knuckles I bang on all you fat-cat shmoozers, ya too cocky like roosters, wealthy losers turning blind eyes to mayhem that goes by and why try, coz I will be heard it might sound absurd, but 80 percent of profit goes to 20 percent of the world, ya heard what I saw now let me break it down raw, straight from the core pushin’ aside all laws, we’ve become lazy greedy sneaky money hungry whores, boredom leads to problems we solvin’ nuthin’ with wallets, I call it how I see it who wants to make a profit? stop it, you don’t get respect from money or power that’s perception, deception of our society lyin’ n bettin’ n testin’, the will of every mother’s son is coming undone in the long run, you think we’ve won? Think again we sold tons of souls for oil and gold one by one, death is inevitable but acts that are regrettable can still be heard, long after the human body has left the physical world, we searched and now we’re cursed to be honest it’s not how I want it, but we keep acting the same we will perish and that’s a promise/( Now who’s on it?)

Chorus (x4)

Outro

Just think about change how u wanna behave, what u wanna have engraved on your tomb stone the day you lay, down underground the surface it’s worthless if you learnt less, than your purpose on this earth just, don’t let material commodities control life’s qualities, I don’t wanna see greed lead obviously we aren’t all free, see time passing you by as you keep up the steep everlasting hike, what to do when you must choose wrong from right it comes at a price, let me enlighten with insight, now if it’s dark then grab the light, if your scared then learn to fight and if you do really care then in my eyes you are alright……yeh you are alright…….

I believe that art comes in all shapes and sizes and although what I have shown may not be that of modern technologies, I feel that it transcends time, becoming infinite in its meaning to me and my life.

(All websites viewed October 10th 2009)