Mythology of the Media part 2

Certain 'mythologies' about the internet can really affect our relationship with technology and our lifestyles in general. The internet is and probably always will be a big part of modern society and our everyday lives.
The variety of uses that the internet can be used for is massive. There is said to be 100 individual internet pages per person in the entire world.

Different cultures influence and use the internet in their own way. For example China has an entirely different way of using the internet, whereas most of the world use the ''www.'' forum, invented by Tim Berners-Lee. This means they can monitor everyone using their internet. Iran have also created their own network http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/25/iran-state-run-internet to increase censorship. This supports the myth of privacy and censorship. Usually what you put on the internet, unless privatised can be seen by anyone anywhere in the world. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have privacy settings, however they are not guaranteed and not everyone thinks about the consequences of having a public account or profile.

Another myth is that 'The technology of the Internet is making us more social and helping to foster a new kind of community'. This is true to an extent as from the internet you are able to meet and contact anyone anywhere in the world, whereas previously it would be near impossible to just meet someone from the other side of the world. However, this has also brought a new type of danger, with chat rooms turning into obsessive relationships turning into abductions and pedophilia. It could be argued that the invention of social networking has led us to become less social in reality, as we spend so much time socialising on the internet. Since October 2012, there are over a billion active Facebook accounts. http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22. 

Augmented Reality? - http://www.howstuffworks.com/augmented-reality.htm



This refers to combining reality and technology together, a view of the real world with implements of technical features using computer generated inputs such as graphics and other data. Also known as 'Virtual Reality' which has been in discussion for a while. Virtual Reality in gaming has recently come into the mainstream. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vcGqha6xJ0. Previously gaming delved into virtual reality by giving users the opportunity to use headsets and microphones. Combined together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vcGqha6xJ0. This video shows the problems you can encounter with virtual gaming.



''We are the web.'' - Kevin Kelly. - http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech.html
This paper discusses web 2.0 (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1008839) and the progression of the internet itself. It tells how in 1965 Ted Nelson attempted his own version of the internet, however his efforts went unknown. 1984 Kelly met Nelson who told of his intention to ''organise all the knowledge of humanity'' and to ''save the world from stupidity.'' Alternatively, Vannevar Bush thought of 'hyperlinked pages' in 1945.

''For the trails of the machine become duplicated in the brain of the user, vaguely as all human memory is vague, but with a concomitant emphasis by repetition, creation and discard … as the cells of the brain become realigned and reconnected, better to utilize the massive explicit memory which is its servant.'' [Bush 1959, 178] http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/2/1/000015/000015.html

Is the machine using us?

We are the web.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

The next step? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=off08As3siM&feature=related