Conceptual Research & Reflection Project

Concept 14: Cyberspace is informationally created 'space'

“MUDs (and derivative graphical worlds) are the pre-eminent form of 'spatialising' on the Internet: they are not merely about communication, but about the construction of a 'shared hallucination' of spatial context.” (Allen, n.d)

It is human nature to want to socialise and gather with like minded people in a ‘space’. The Internet offers the opportunity to create ‘space’ for specific purposes that are accessible from almost anywhere in the world. These spaces can be in the form of chat rooms, discussion boards, forums, email lists, online games etc. Each is different, yet inherently similar in the sense that they all enable communication between people in a created environment, that, for the duration of the experience, is as real as the participants deem it is.

Many discussions have occurred as to the ‘reality’ of online interactions. Some say that your relations with a person isn’t ‘real’ unless you meet them in the physical world, others disagree and say that communication is communication and is ‘real’ no matter its delivery. The created space online has blurred the line greatly between what is and is not ‘reality’. Online games have been a major player in the uncertainty of reality as they present entire virtual worlds to live in with many offering the ability for avatars to marry.

Online games, in particular MMORPGs, are unique when it comes to created space. The games still run with the same format as a single person game, that is they have quests to complete and storylines to follow, however, the fact that they are online opens them up to the intricacies of human interaction. They are literally virtual worlds with their own races, rules, economies and social acceptability’s. Each game’s player base determines what is and is not acceptable within its society. Whilst this is true of other forms of online communication, the seemingly closed nature of these games, combined with the lore of the particular game, makes them an interesting experiment in human behaviour and interactions. Of particular interest is the natural progression of gathering into groups or ‘guilds’. All players are partaking in the same virtual world, yet rather than playing as a single community their needs and desire to be around like minded people sees them forming groups, as happens in the ‘real’ world.

The MMORPG, Second Life, is perhaps one of the best uses of created space for the purpose of communication. Unlike most MMORPGs, Second Life has no quests to complete, no alternate race to play or storyline created by developers. Its sole function is to act as a space for people to socialise and create they’re own space within a space to interact with others. Second Life, is exactly as its name suggests a second life for its members that, for some, runs in parallel with their ‘first life’.


Site 1:
Title: How is Online Communication Different?

About.com. (2003). “How is Online Communication Different?” About.com. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/computerstuff/a/onlinecom.htm

This is an article about the differences between people’s online and offline communications. It lists some examples of the key features which aren’t part of face-to-face communications, such as, gender switching and the use of nicknames. It’s interesting to see how differently we communicate when the other person is no where to be seen.

Site 2:
Title: Coldwell Banker Puts Real House on Second Life Block

Phillips, Ashley. (2007). “Coldwell Banker Puts Real House on Second Life Block” abc News. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3437446

An article from abc News about a real estate agent putting a real $3 million dollar (US) property, situated in Seattle, up for sale online in Second Life. The house was completely recreated in Second Life, which enabled prospective international buyers to tour the house without having to make the trip to the US. It really is another example of the virtual world blending with the physical, whether we’re ready for it or not.


Concept 23: Human-computer interfaces

“Interacting with websites feels similarly impersonal or, more subtly, further indicates the extent to which humans readily accept the presence of machine-like ‘intelligence’ in their lives.” (Allen, n.d)

For years humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial intelligence. At first it was a science fiction idea for machines to interact with humans and today, to a certain extent, this remains true. Yes, we interact with computers and our everyday lives are full of fridges telling us that we need to buy more milk, or washing machines telling us that its cycle is over and requires unloading. However, these are just simple programs running their course; the word ‘intelligence’ is used quite liberally in society, even more so when it comes to computers.

Before we can classify an entity as having ‘intelligence’ we must first define what it is to be intelligent. This is no small task and it is a problem that has plagued the scientific and philosophical communities for hundreds of years. Whilst there are currently various I.Q tests around, they don’t allow for variations in a person’s ability. A good example is a savant. Savants have serious mental or physical disabilities, yet have remarkable talents in, usually, one field. They would normally fail an I.Q test, however if tested on their particular talent, they exceed ‘normal’ parameters.

When it comes to computers we are fortunate to be able to define intelligence quite accurately. Intelligence in a program can only truly exist when it is dynamically responding to events it has not been programmed for. For example, while it’s a good party trick, a chat bot being able to fool people is not intelligence, as it is not capable of dynamically creating a response to a specific input. In more human terms, in has a very limited vocabulary and responds with a default message when it encounters input that it doesn’t have a predefined match for. In the case of a chat bot, we can see that while it appears to have a glimmer of ‘intelligence’ it is in fact simply intelligent programming.

As artificial intelligence is mostly measured by how closely it mirrors human behaviour, in order to truly call a program intelligent, it would need to be able to interact and evolve without any human altered code, past the original version of itself. This process would be similar to the growth of a human child. From birth we have only our most basic of instincts yet we develop knowledge and skills through what we experience and are taught. We have no programmer to periodically update our software and install new data, we are autonomous beings. For those searching to create true artificial intelligence, this would have to be the ultimate goal.


Site 1:
Title: Intelligence

Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia (2008) "Intelligence". Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570026/intelligence.html

An encyclopaedic definition of intelligence, that goes into detail about the difficulties of defining intelligence. It also covers how different intelligence is dependant on the culture that perceives it. An example being that one culture may conceive intelligence as the ability to solve mathematical equations, while another culture defines intelligence by a person’s navigational skill.

Site 2:
Site 2:
Title: Aiko, Fem-bot.

Ramadge, Andrew. (2008) “It's not about sex, says Aiko robot inventor Le Trung” NEWS.com.au. Retrieved February 5, 2009, from http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24807784-5014239,00.html?from=communities

Artificial intelligence! Not quite. This article is about a Canadian inventor that has developed a life sized female robot that can interact with people. It’s getting pretty close to artificial intelligence but it’s not quite there yet. The programmer still can’t walk away completely and let it learn on its own yet. Yes she can slap a person if they verbally abuse her, but this is because she has been programmed to do so, its not a learned response.



Concept 27: The persistence of history

“Moreover, while new systems ‘appear’ different, they often use or include much older, traditional applications. For example, various identifier commands (ping, traceroute etc) can be used within IRC; telnet and ftp are tightly interlinked with http for web browsing.” (Allen, n.d)

History itself is persistent in all things, be it the natural evolution of life, or our most modern of technologies. Very rarely is a new idea actually new, more often than not it is based around something that was conceived years earlier. Unless the day comes that the internet is thrown into the trash and reborn, the older technologies are not likely to disappear any time soon, be they in their original forms or as the backbone for newer technologies. Even then, there is a high probability that there will still be a remanence of the older technology in the ‘new’ version of the Internet.

Knowledge and understanding of the older technologies is not just a nice idea, but is virtually required. Many Fortune 500 companies still run off older technology due to its reliability and at this point in time there is no need for them to upgrade. Cost is also a major factor in all things, these days especially, and the sheer cost involved with overhauling the current systems would be staggering.

In a sense it can be likened to the car. Despite the evolution of the car, at its core remains an engine, as it stands, the same type of engine that was used when the Model T Ford first rolled off the production line in 1908. Even with the ideas and advancements that are being developed, the engine is still an integral part of the car. Some of the new ideas, such as Hydrogen fuel, can be traced back to 1807. Unless the car can completely remove the use of an engine then its historical
technology will never be eliminated.

Even if the car was to be reinvented to the point of not requiring any technology of its predecessors, knowledge of the older technologies would still be required. It takes years for older outdated technology to completely die out and in some cases it has a chance at a revival. Vinyl records, for example, were replaced with the newer, and some say better CDs. Today however, they are not only still around but are also making a comeback as music industries attempt to combat the illegal
download trend that is occurring.

No matter the circumstance, history has always found a way to influence the future and the internet is no different. The older technology will continue to persist well into the future as either a backbone for more modern systems or as a redundancy should everything else fail.


Site 1:
Title: What goes around comes around.

Spanbauer, Jan (2009). “What goes around comes around”. Advance Titan. Retrieved February 5, 2009, from http://www.advancetitan.com/?se=Arts+%26+Entertainment&s=7389

This is a link to an article detailing the new rise in popularity for the humble vinyl record. The vinyl record never truly died and it’s fascinating to see that a very modern problem has heralded its return. With illegal downloads at an all time high it’ll be very interesting to see how much of the market vinyls can reclaim for the record companies, especially in the current financial climate.


Site 2:
Title: The History of the Automobile

About.com. n.d “The History of the Automobile” About.com: Inventors. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarsgasa.htm

It’s interesting to look at the recycled ideas of the past, especially the hydrogen fuelled engine. This site has a timeline of key points in the history of the car engine, as well as some in depth information on certain individuals whose contribution was immensely important to the engines development.



Concept 33: Information and attention

“One of the newest and most significant ways of thinking about the Internet is termed the ‘attention economy’ (Goldhaber). In this kind of economy, the most valuable commodity is people’s attention (which can be, for example, bought and sold in the advertising industry): successful websites and other Internet publications / communications (says Goldhaber) are those which capture and hold the increasingly distracted attention of Internet users amidst a swirling mass of informational options.” (Allen, n.d)

There are many issues that arise when designing for the Internet; the attention span of the users is possibly one of the most frustrating. The first issue is load times. The average attention span of users when it comes to the load time of a web page is approximately 4 seconds, according to studies under taken in 2006. A few years earlier the attention span of users was found to be 8 seconds; the drop in attention spans can be attributed to the introduction of broadband technologies.

If the user is around long enough for the page to load and begin browsing, the page then has to be designed in a way that facilitates the ability to obtain information quickly. With the use of eye tracking technology, a study of how users actually browse a web page found that users typically follow an ‘F’ pattern when viewing a site. That is, they start from the top left and upper area before moving down in the shape of an ‘F’.

However, despite the fact that attention spans seem to be decreasing, another [eye tracking study] found that when a user finds what they’re after, they actually spend more time reading online articles than offline articles. This would infer that grabbing the user’s attention is even more important than first thought. This is easier said than done though with the immense competition there is on the Internet. The desire/need to grab the user’s attention can also lead to some unpleasant experiences for the user. Not only do some websites go overboard with the advertisements that they have on their site, making them hellishly slow to load at times, but online advertisements can themselves be annoying, frustrating and dangerous.

For a long time online advertisements were kept to the sides of web pages and didn’t interfere to much with the users experience of the page. Now days though with the increase in competition and the introduction of ad blocking software, advertisers have had to find new ways of grabbing a user’s attention. As well as the traditional side ads on web pages, advertisers have also come up with annoying pop up ads (thankfully these can be blocked by most web browsers) and scrolling ads. Animation has also been implemented in online ads thanks to the Flash plug-in, unfortunately more often then not these ads are nothing, but visual noise and an annoying distraction for users. The strive to capture the users attention has also lead to spy-ware, software developed to be downloaded onto a user’s computer without their permission (and in most cases, without their knowledge) with the purpose of tracking or altering their browsing experience, or at worse case scenario, further infecting their computer with malicious software – all by loading a small amount of code embedded in a webpage. These are not only an invasion of privacy but can also lead to more serious events, such as identity theft.

At the end of the day, our attention span for any particular thing is determined by our interest, despite the immensity of the Internet and the techniques employed to draw our attention to one specific area over another. If we want it, we’ll find it and it will have our attention.


Site 1:
Title: EyeTrack07 ASNE Presentation Script

Quinn, Sara Dickenson. (2007) “EyeTrack07 ASNE Presentation Script”. Poynter Online. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=120470

This link is to a presentation script of an eye tracking studies results. Whilst this study paid particular attention to the reading habits of offline and online news readers, it’s interesting to see how much more the participants read when they found something that interested them. What’s also interesting is that the participants that were reading the online material read more than those reading the offline material.


Site 2:
Title: Scientific Web Design: 23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies

Laun, Christina. (2007). “Scientific Web Design: 23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies”. VirtualHosting.com. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2007/scientific-web-design-23-actionable-lessons-from-eye-tracking-studies/

Designing for the attention span of a gnat is hard; having a hit list of ideas to counter this problem is like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Interpreting scientific studies isn’t always so easy either. This website takes 23 issues that were found with website design through eye tracking studies, translates them and then gives easy to understand solutions to the problems.



Bibliography

About.com. (2003). “How is Online Communication Different?” About.com. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/computerstuff/a/onlinecom.htm

About.com. n.d “The History of the Automobile” About.com: Inventors. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarsgasa.htm

Hiles, Dave. (2002). “Savant Syndrome” The Virtual Office of Dave Hiles. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/Savant%20Syndrome.htm

Hof, Rob. (2006). “Second Life's First Millionaire” The Tech Beat. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2006/11/second_lifes_fi.html

Jordan, Tim. n.d. “Cyberpower and the Meaning of Online Activism”. Cybersociology Magazine: Issue Five. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://www.cybersociology.com/files5_timjordan_cyberpower.html

Laun, Christina. (2007). “Scientific Web Design: 23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies”. VirtualHosting.com. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2007/scientific-web-design-23-actionable-lessons-from-eye-tracking-studies/

Loj, Eugene. (2006). “The User Attention Span” Event Marketing Articles and Event Promotions. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://www.eugeneloj.com/2006/12/the_user_attent.html

Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia (2008) "Intelligence". Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570026/intelligence.html

Moschovitis, Christos J. P. et al. (2007). “Chapter 4 - Because It's There: 1979 – 1984” History of the Internet. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://www.historyoftheinternet.com/chap4.html

Nielsen, Jakob. (2006). “F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content”. Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

Phillips, Ashley. (2007). “Coldwell Banker Puts Real House on Second Life Block” abc News. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3437446

Quinn, Sara Dickenson. (2007) “EyeTrack07 ASNE Presentation Script”. Poynter Online. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=120470

Ramadge, Andrew. (2008) “It's not about sex, says Aiko robot inventor Le Trung” NEWS.com.au. Retrieved February 5, 2009, from http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24807784-5014239,00.html?from=communities

Second Life (2008). secondlife.com. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://secondlife.com/

Spanbauer, Jan (2009). “What goes around comes around”. Advance Titan. Retrieved February 5, 2009, from http://www.advancetitan.com/?se=Arts+%26+Entertainment&s=7389

Wolfram, Stephen. (2002). “A New Kind of Science”. wolframscience.com. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/page-1178a-text?firstview=1