articles...
Computer viruses and...safe hex!
Apr 28, 01:09 AM · Eugenia Tragaki
Have you ever been infected by a computer virus?
Well, I was recently and that made me think about the vulnerability of internet as J. Watson maintains: “The Net is…vulnerable because its prime virtues-of speed, distance, accessibility and anonymity-can be turned so easily against it” (Watson, 2003:252).
Computer viruses are malicious software (malware) that could enter into your computer system without knowing it. These programs usually harm the system that they infect (Parikka, 2005, Wikipedia, 2007). However, in some rare cases there are ‘good viruses’ which can cause system improvements rather than damages (Parikka, 2005, Wikipedia, 2007). Throughout the years of their existence (1982-2007), there have been detected different kinds of malware like worms, Trojan horses, spyware etc. They all have different forms and ways of spreading but their common characteristic is that they operate arbitrarily and secretly (Wikipedia, 2007).
Unlike the physical viruses, the digital ones are creations of computer scientists, programmers or hackers. Commonly, the virus creators use this activity as a challenge for research, for piracy breaking, for violation, for hacktivism,
for money or just for fun (Twist, 2003, Watson, 2003:252, Wikipedia 2007).
Considering the history of their appearance, computer viruses does not just cause system confusion and network threat but also contribute in capitalistic replication (Parikka, 2005). According to J. Parikka, computer viruses serve the capitalism by providing opportunities for economic expansion, control and surveillance. The author indicates that after the first virus explosion (1986-88) the business of anti-virus services had been raised. Additionally, a huge anti-virus propaganda was emerged by demonstrating the responsible computing and the ethical networking, referred as safe hex (Parikka, 2005).
Consequently, this technological accident (malware) and the propaganda against it, caused the growth of a lucrative market (anti-virus programs) which serves well the productive flow of capitalism (Parikka, 2005).
References
J. Parikka (2005), Digital Monsters, Binary Aliens-Computer Viruses, Capitalism and the Flow of Information, source: Fibreculture Journal, online at: http://journal.fibreculture.org/issue4/issue4_parikka.html
J. Twist (2003), Why people write computer viruses, source: BBC NEWS, online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3172967.stm
J. Watson(2003), Media Communication: an introduction to theory and process (2ed.), Hampshire, New York: Palgrave Macmillan (pp.251-2)
Wikipedia/computer virus, source: wikipedia, online at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus#_note-1
The virtual cemeteries
Apr 26, 06:58 PM · Eugenia Tragaki
The internet provides us opportunities, for learning, working, communicating and remembering (Watson, 2003:230-231). However, the web is not only used for serving the living but also for memorializing the dead. For istance, it can be used for safeguarding memory, for grieving and accepting the loss and for sharing similar experiences and thus participating in some kind of e-therapy, through online memorialisation (K.Veale, 2003). By searching on the internet you could find memorials for significant personas, for missing relatives, friends and children or even for pets . They all provide a virtual memorial space for honoring, sharing and grieving. According to Kylie Veale, the web can be viewed as a collective memorial landscape, where online memorials are linked with each other by creating a global network for bereavement and sorrow (K.Veale, 2003).
But can these memorial websites be considered as memorials with the traditional sence of memorialising?
As Veale indicated: “cyberspace has succesfully improved upon memorialisation practices in areas such as timeliness, cost, accessibility, creativity, and enabled the sharing of grief and bereavement on a global scale” (K.Veale, 2003).
Therefore, online memorials can be more accessible and useful, than the traditional ones by catalyzing the stability of their existence. Also by being more accurate and representative surrogates for the deceased and by connecting people that suffer from familiar experiences of loss and grief.
However, the static memorials are more real and proximate to the dead. But it seems that in nowadays the act of online memorialisation is more proximate to the daily life of the griever.
As a conclusion, online memorialisation provides the opportunity for keeping alive the remembrance of a common deceased (digital immortality), by the interactivity, flexibility, ‘anonymity’ and accessibility of the worldwide web.
References:
Veale Kylie (2003), Online Memorialisation: The Web As A Collective Memorial Landscape For Remembering The Dead, source: journal.fibreculture.org, online at: http://journal.fibreculture.org/issue3/issue3_.html
Geser Hans (1998), Yours Virtually Forewer: Death Memorials and Remembrance Dites in the WWW, source: socio.ch, online at: http://socio.ch/intcom/t_hgeser07.htm
Watson James (2003), Media Communication: an introduction to theory and process(2nd ed.), Hapshire, New York: Palgrave MacMillan
Where do you store your memory?
Apr 26, 03:16 AM · Eugenia Tragaki
With the transition from the physical to the digital medium by the new technologies, our attitudes towards the collection of our private memories have been changed dramatically. In nowadays, the materiality of physical files has been disappeared, by the dominance of digital storage devices, software for storage and manipulation of data or relevant websites on internet. It seems that the old shoeboxes are no longer useful.
On the other hand, new technology gives us the opportunity to update our old shoeboxes by digitalizing our memories in order to heal the impermanency of our minds.
Memory, is a complex mechanism of our human brain. Through our memory we can collect, store, recall or forget information (A. S. Reber,1995). But our brain due to its materiality is not only complex and prime but also fragile and temperate.
Here comes science and technology. Their intention was to go beyond this human transience by designing computing
systems that were able to make rapid computations or store great amounts of data.
For example, in 1945 Vannevar Bush introduced his visionary machine, memex. He wanted to correct the confines of human memory by adapting mind’s natural process of linking and associating information into a retaining and recollecting devise. Hence, memex was designed to store data through associated trails (the user’s listed codes-tags)(V. Bush,1945).
Now, we do not need to store our memories into an old shoebox, we can simply install software or use other databases in order to ensure their storage. But this attitude is far different from the cultural process of collecting material memories, as Jose Van Dijck has pointed out (J.V.Dijck, 2005). However, as different they might be they still have one thing in common: machines are human constructions and they still hide some kind of fragility within them.
Therefore, remember to keep a shoebox with backup copies, just in case!
References
A. S. Reber (1995), Dictionary of Psychology (2nd ed.), London: Penguin
V. Bush (1945), As We May Think, source: www.theatlantic.com, online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush
J.V.Dijck (2005), From Shoebox to Performative Agent: the computer as personal memory machine, New media & Society, vol.7, no.3, (pp.311-332)
T.Roszak (1986), The Cult of Information, Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, (pp.95-101)
Mind the Gaps
Apr 25, 08:37 PM · Susan Agnew
Howard Rheingold is wary that economic and political powers could take control over the internet, ruining its democratic possibilities (Rheingold, 1999, p.275). In order to prevent such a monopoly, Rheingold suggests that we should all contribute to discussions about the development of the internet (Rheingold, 1999, p.277/278). However, despite a large population of internet users, participation rates remain low.
With the many opportunities to contribute, the internet perhaps epitomises the postmodern dismissal of grand narratives. Henri Giroux, however, is critical that opportunities do not automatically allow marginalised groups to participate (Giroux, 1998, p.19). Simply providing the opportunity does not engage in the wider social issues.
Discussion of the blurring of boundaries in relation to new technologies does not fill in, but overlooks gaps.
References:
Giroux, H. (1998), “Postmodernism and the Discourse of Educational Criticism”, Journal of Education, Vol.170, No. 3, pp. 5-27
Rheingold, H (1999), “The Virtual Community: finding connection in a computerised world” in Mackay H. & O’Sullivan, T. (eds.) The Media Reader: Continuity and Transformation, London: Sage
multiple tensions, fluid opportunities
Apr 25, 08:37 PM · Susan Agnew
As a project of the Enlightenment, modern democracy is based on a unitary view of identity and the private act of voting is considered to be supported by communication in the public sphere (Poster, 1995). New technologies present challenges to both of these assumptions. Virtual communities and on-line games make apparent that we do not simply play different roles but have simultaneous, multiple identities (Turkle, 1999, p.291). Secondly, the static division between public and private has been challenged by mass media and increased mobility (Sheller and Ury, 2003).
The government has recently created on-line facilities to listen to and communicate with a wider audience. However, Mark Poster argues that discussions on the impact of the internet on democracy should not be limited to the ways it extends or affects existing institutions; but consider the ways it installs new relationships (Poster, 1995, para 1). The internet facilitates the construction of multiple, fluid identities and a fluidity between public and private. Poster questions if these new relationships present a challenge to existing power structures and hierarchies.
Meyrowitz shows that the issues of identity, public/private and power relations are interconnected (Merowitz, 1999). As the media screens the private lives of prominent figures, different aspects of their identities are revealed across a number of social situations. Increased visibility through media exposure demystifies those in power, weakening their status (Merowitz, 1999, p.110). Increased access to information and the ability to share information horizontally flattens power structures (Merowitz, 1999).
Such principles of access and sharing are antagonistic to capitalist ventures reliant on ownership. Rheingold sees in this leverage, the possibility to create participatory democracy on an unprecedented scale but warns that this opportunity could be lost as large political and economic powers are likely to take control of new communications technology (Rheingold, 1999).
Corporate connections and in particular, synergy of telecommunications companies make his warnings more real.
Power and hierarchies are features of the internet, but it is heterogeneous and fluid showing creative tensions in spontaneity and otherness.
References:
Meyrowitz, J. (1999), “No sense of place: the impact of electronic media on social behaviour”, in Mackay H. & O’Sullivan, T. (eds.) The Media Reader: Continuity and Transformation, London: Sage
Poster, M. (1995), CyberDemocracy: Internet and the Public Sphere http://www.hnet.uci.edu/mposter/writings/democ.html accessed 25.04.07
Rheingold, H (1999), “The Virtual Community: finding connection in a computerised world” in Mackay H. & O’Sullivan, T. (eds.) The Media Reader: Continuity and Transformation, London: Sage
Sheller, M. and Ury, J. (2003), “Mobile transformations of ‘public’ and ‘private’ life” in Theory, Culture and Society, vol.2 no. 2, pp.205-228
Turkle, S (1999), “Identity in the Age of the Internet, in Mackay H. & O’Sullivan, T. (eds.) The Media Reader: Continuity and Transformation, London: Sage