Do Xbox Kinect and the Wii make us cyborgs when we play their games?

New technologies have been developed which allow users to physically become part of video games when they play them. For example, the Wii  is a console is that controlled totally by the players movements. Each game allows the player to interact completely with the game. All the player has to do it move their arms and body's around as though they are the characters in the game.

Shortly after this, microsoft brought out Xbox Kinect as a way to try and compete with the Wii. However, this differs in the way that it has sensors which sense every movement that the player makes. Therefore, it takes game play to the next level as the slightest movement is mirrored byt the character on the screen.

Nintendo has also released Playstation Move which incorprates both elements of the Wii and Xbox Kinect but also uses a different technique as it includes a webcam so that it can see your movements. Furthermore, Playstation Move also uses 3D technology to make the player's experience even more realistic.

With all of these consoles bringing out games that allow us to be physically a part of them, do they turn us into cyborgs?

When we disappear into these video games, we are entering cyberspace and becoming a different being, therefore pointing towards us being cyborgs. With these technologies in our hands, literally, we are able to control the technology that is in front of us. Subsequently, this can be seen as us being a part of the computer or having a part of it in us.

Cyborgs are often seen as having super powers, or being indestructible. Gaming may not have gone that far yet, but who knows what the future may hold for video games. In the 21st century, technology is developing very fast. Will we all be able to actually transform into a cyborg in the next 50 years?

Mash ups and remixes: Should users be allowed to create their own content using existing material?

REMIXERS MANIFESTO
1. Culture always builds the past.
2. The past always tries to control the future.
3. Our future is becoming less free.
4. To build free societies you must limit control of the past.
(Sourced from RIP: A Remix Manifesto, 2009)

Anyone who was born in the late 1980s onwards has become a part of a "media generation": a generation that has become literate in the ways of the internet and new technologies. The internet allows us to share ideas and information as well as building communities through the usage of technology. People can share their creations and thoughts through a variety of different sites and blogs.

On youtube, there are various user generated videos- some of which contain music that is solely their own and others which contain music that isn't. Along with myspace, youtube has become a place where people can share their creations and promote themselves.

Mash ups have become increasingly popular with artists such as Radiohead and Jay-Z being mixed together to form Jaydiohead, by DJ Max Tannone. In RIP: A Remix Manifesto, Brett Gaylor follows his favourite remixer Girl Talk, a DJ who also uses samples from different songs and artists and puts them together to form something different.

If users create something different using bits of other people's creations is it right?

When Jay-Z found out about project Jaydiohead, he openly supported it with a tweet saying: "There are 3 or 4 REAL gems on Jaydiohead." However, even though this was a good case many other people, especially those who work at the record companies, disagree with mash ups because they take songs without any permission and create something that the artists have not agreed to.  But, if the music is out there, surely it's there to be enjoyed?

I think that users should be allowed to create new content using others creations. Originality isn't around much these days, in fact many of Walt Disney's creations were stolen from things that were already in the public domain. So, maybe we need to 'borrow' other people's ideas to create our own successful ones?

Is web 2.0 different from the original idea of the web?

"Web 1.0 was all about connecting people. It was an interactive space, and I think Web 2.0 is, of course, a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along." -Tim Berners Lee

Web 2.0 has allowed the internet to become more of an environment where user content can be created. Sites like myspace, facebook and even this blogging site have emerged from the evolution of the internet. Users can now create things in simple steps without having to have any knowledge about codes that are needed to create websites because it already done for them. Therefore, web 2.0 allows people to connect with others around the world without having to go through the long-winded process of creating a website from scratch.


With web 1.0 people were just consumers, but now with 2.0 they have become prosumers. People can now get more involved with the process in which things are made. For example, ordinary people can create apps for an android phone or an iPhone. 


Web 2.0 is not completely different from the original idea of the web because the whole idea of the internet is to connect people. However, it differs in the way that is allows people to be connected. Ideas can be shared more freely and in different formats. Youtube and social networking sites have become a big internet communites with people sharing and interacting all over the world. With a few clicks of your mouse you can become part of a social networking site and start meeting new people who share similar interests. All the hard work is done for you, for example if you join facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has already done everything so that you can create an account in seconds!

Is digital media a good way to convey news?

Digital media helps people to access the news from wherever they are around the world. Websites, videos and articles can go viral within a matter of minutes because of the usage of social networking sites and the ability to share news with the click of a button. Media consumers can have a variety of different news outlets at their fingertips, therefore it's a good place for people to get news and events known globally.

Image courtesy of: http://venturebeat.com/company/wikileaks/

WikiLeaks has thrived from the internet as it continuously releases new material about things that they believe needs to be known by the public. Without the freedom of the internet, this site would not be able to spread the information that they have.

However, is this freedom really as good as it sounds?

Although people are able to see information and it's sources on this whistle blowing site, it is also putting at risk some of the people that are named in the cables. Because some of the information hasn't been censored properly, names are emerging which creates a safety risk. Therefore, does this make the leaking of cables right? People want to know the information but are we really willing to put people's lives at risk just to get it?

Do we become a different person when we're in cyberspace?

“On the internet nobody knows you’re a dog” –Peter Steiner, The New Yorker.

When we create a facebook profile or set up a twitter account are we becoming someone else or being the person that we are? “Should we post our age and marital status? Should we make our profile private or public? Should we reveal that we're gay? (Data-crawling programs can make a pretty good guess about it even if we don't.) Should we boast on Twitter that we applied for a grant? Should we talk about the ravages of chronic Crohn's disease?” (Andy Oram, 2009)

Nobody really knows who they're talking to on the internet or who's profile they'e viewing. You can be anyone you want to be because of the freedom that the internet offers. Unfortunately this can sometimes be bad because it can be a great place for people to commit crimes such as identity theft and online grooming, which is more common amongst the teenagers and younger people that use the internet. 

However, because of the freedom that the internet offers I think that we can be ourselves a lot more or become someone that we'd want to be. When someone posts a status on facebook or twitter they can write it in any style that they wish, be it formal or informal. You can chose how people see you and therefore you can create an image for yourself. 

So, we do become different people online. We either have the confidence to be ourselves because we have a screen to protect us or we can become a person that we'd like to be. 

Is the idea of cyberspace dead because it's all around us?

When the internet first became apparent no one really knew what it was or what it could do. When Tim Berners Lee created the World Wide Web he never thought it would amount to anything and therefore gave it away free. Would he still have done that is he had known the phenomenon that the internet and technology is now?

The notion of cyberspace is something that has become less alien to everyone because of the accessibility of technology and the internet. For example the introduction of the Xbox Kinect and PlayStation Move means that you can now become a physical part of a video game as opposed to sitting down with a controller in your hand controlling an avatar on the screen.

So, because we can get inside a video game does it mean that the idea of cyberspace as a seperate place is dead? No I don't think so.

A new language has been created to use on the internet. The usage of words like LOL, ROFL and TTYL are not things that were would say in everyday life because it would be seen as odd, but when we're chatting on a messenger service or through messages on a website or forum it is seen as acceptable. Communities online communicate very differently to how they do in real life.

When we enter these communities we enter cyberspace. Therefore, it becomes a separate place to have an identity. But, so is being part of a video game. Even though the character's path could already be set out for you, it is your choice how to do the things that the game instructs you to do. Furthermore, you can create your own avatar on the Xbox and other gaming consoles which also connect to the internet so that you can play with other players.

I think that cyberspace is all around us but not in the way that it is becoming something that we're always in. There is still a distinct divide between the virtual world and the real world and we can still decide to be a part of either one at various times.