My Essay

Here is my completed essay for NCT: Finished a week early YAY!

Youth Oriented Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds are a popular activity for adults, they are able to provide socialising opportunities along with something to pass the time, but the sad news is, this popular hobby is now even more famous and still growing amongst the youth age groups, starting from as young as 7. The main focus of this essay is to discuss the argument that, “Virtual worlds designed for youth ages, are a safe alternative to adult virtual worlds.” In this essay I will cover both sides of this argument, focusing on the side which I believe is the truth.

Adult virtual worlds have created questions about their safety in regards to the youth having access to them. Many issues have been raised about what can easily happen in these types of worlds, mainly with the popular world, Second Life. These virtual worlds are considered an online haven for predators. In 2007, television show Four Corners aired a story about Second Life which questions the security of the virtual world. It discusses how nearly everything which can happen in real life, including sex and rape, can also happen in the virtual world. This is only the beginning of the issues that can arise; children are also able to visit sexually explicit places in these worlds where they can witness nudity and virtual sex. When a user of such a site signs up to join the online social network, they create an avatar, these avatars can be created as both adults and children. This makes it easy for children to go into the world as an adult character, which can lead to them networking with the wrong crowd, this creation of avatars also allow adults to look like children, which is dangerous when paedophiles use the virtual worlds as it allows them to live out their fantasies in a virtual reality. The reason why it is easy for children to gain access into worlds such as Second Life is because there is no age verification. A U.S Representative, Mark Kirk, is currently trying to go the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about protecting children from using these types of sites. Kirk makes the point that the sites claim to have an age requirement of 13 years, however in the registration progress there are no types of age verifications. (Oleck: 2008) It is clear that virtual worlds are not a safe place for children to be in, raising the question about whether virtual worlds designed specifically for teenagers and children are a safe alternative.

My argument agrees with the statement that virtual worlds designed for children and teens are a safe alternative to adult virtual worlds, however I strongly believe that it depends on the choice of the world. According to a 2008 study by Virtual Worlds Management, there are over 100 youth oriented virtual worlds, with the most popular youth virtual worlds being for “Tweens”, those aged 8-12. This leaves many options when it comes to choosing the safest virtual world to use. A well known virtual world designed for the tween and teen age group is Teen Second Life. In my opinion, I believe that this is a deceiving world. The most deceiving part of the world is its name. By putting “Teen” at the front of the title, it is deemed a world that is for teens only. However it is still possible for anyone to sign up to use this world and it is impossible to know who you are networking with once in the world. As a part of my research, I read the parents section on the Teen Second Life website out of interest to see how they reassure parents of their children’s safety. The ways that they ensure that teens can be kept safe is by encouraging parents to experience the world with their children, through activities such as a virtual tour. The other way of reassuring the parents is by telling them that, during open hours, the virtual world is staffed to ensure that there is no evident inappropriate behaviour. This research made it clear that not all youth oriented virtual worlds are what they are made to be. I believe that it is necessary for parents to properly research and choose a virtual world which has more convincing arguments which prove that they are a safe place.

There are over one hundred youth oriented virtual worlds and in amongst these there are many that are organised with their main goal for creating a safe and enjoyable place for youth. Virtual worlds which are designed for the sole purpose of socialising are the ones which are not necessarily safe. They have no main goal. Mokitown is a world created for the tween target audience. It is a world which allows for social networking, however at the same time, has the purpose of teaching road safety. (Virtual Worlds Review: 2001)

Worlds created for youth are a safe alternative to adult words in the sense that they allow the users to be kept away from, with it being impossible for there to be any nudity or sexual references however there is still an unsafe aspect to these worlds. An issue that arises with youth oriented worlds is their focus on marketing and advertising to children. There are virtual worlds which are teamed up with particular companies as a way of marketing, for example worlds teaming up with music or clothing companies as a way of advertising their products. This is an avenue which I believe youth using these sites are not yet protected from.

It is good to know that children’s’ safety in virtual worlds are being greater researched. A conference will be held on Thursday the 22^nd of May 2008 in the UK which will address all issues and then find solutions. (Children in Virtual Worlds)

In conclusion, these youth oriented virtual worlds are a safe alternative to adult virtual worlds as they protect the youth from sexual dangers in the world. This is only the case with some virtual worlds, there are still many that have no proof that they are able to completely protect the youth. It is the parents’ responsibility to ensure the complete safety of their children by choosing or having a big part in the choice of virtual world. There are still many ways that the worlds are unsafe, in regards to issues such as a hidden agenda to advertise to the youth.

References:

Books:

Baird, R.M., Ramsower, R., Rosenbaum, S.E. (ed) (2000) Cyberethics: Social and Moral Issues of the Contemporary Age Prometheus Books

Morgan, K., Brebbia, C.A., Sanchez, J., Voiskounsky, A. (ed) (2004) Human Perspectives in the Internet Society: Culture, Psychology and Gender WIT PRESS

Journal Articles:

Farrell, J (2007) "Perverts Use Virtual Worlds For Fantasies" Sky News

Glazowski, P (2007) "Virtual World Boom: While Second Life Lags, The Kid-Safe Variety Win Big" Profy

Halperin, A (2006) "A Virtual World Targets Teens" Business Week

Nelson, M.G (2007) "Virtual World’s Aren’t Just For Reaching Adults Anymore" The ClickZ Network

Oleck, J (2008) "Lawmaker Targets Second Life as Unsafe for Kids" School Library Journal

Websites:

“BBC Launches Children’s Virtual World” http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/ (accessed 17 May 2008)

“Children in Virtual Worlds” http://www.childreninvirtualworlds.org.uk/ (accessed 17 May 2008)

“Information For Parents” http://teen.secondlife.com/ (accessed 17 May 2008)

“Mokitown” http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/ (accessed 17 May 2008)

Television:

Fullerton, Ticky (Reporter) (2007) You Only Live Twice, Four Corners (TV)

Essay Draft

For our essay, we had to present a 250 word draft to the class giving an outline of our question and the research we have found. Here is what I had written down for this presentation:

My argument for my essay will be “Virtual worlds designed for teenagers and children are a safe alternative to adult virtual worlds.” Before I started my research I did not have any idea about the safety of these virtual worlds and therefore I didn’t know whether I was or was not going to agree with the statement. After doing the research I have decided that I am going to agree with the statement and the resources that I have found back it up. In saying this, I also believe that there is still reason to disagree with this statement however my research shows that it is best to agree. I have found many useful online resources, there is a website which is all about the latest news in regards to virtual worlds and from this I have used a couple of articles. One of the articles is based on research about the amount of virtual worlds there are and their popularity along with some useful statistics. Also the parents’ area for teen Second Life was useful as it made me realize that teen second life is not a good alternative, its more just Second Life’s way of competing with the other teen virtual worlds out there, but it is not the most popular one. Even though I have found many useful websites, I haven’t finished my research, I plan to look at some books as well and possibly find more statistics to put in my essay.

http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/mokitown/

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2006/tc20060515_945235.htm

http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2007/10/bbc-launches-ch.html

http://teen.secondlife.com/parents

http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/report-100-yout.html

http://www.profy.com/2007/12/31/virtual-world-boom-while-second-life-lags-the-kid-safe-variety-win-big/

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626340

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1290719,00.html

A Field Trip Into Second Life

In the latest New Communication Technologies tutorial we were meant to take a field trip into a virtual world. At the beginning of the year in that extremely long break between high school and university, I created a Second Life account which I used for approximately two days. The following is based not on the classes "Field Trip" but from what I experienced with my avatar, Tally Trafalgar.

Presuming that you are a user of MSN, or other IM programs (or have used it before, or at least know about it)...
Besides the obvious differences (such as ActiveWorlds is 3D and MSN isn't, etc) what are the qualitative differences between the regular IM program and a 3D environment?

• What is different about the kinds of socialising that happens in these spaces? Does the 3D aspect make much difference?
  

In other words, are there things that are possible in one space that are not possible in the other? Could you think of where this sort of application might lead us?

There are many qualitative differences between using IM and 3D worlds. From my experiences I believe that using IM such as MSN which I use, is better. I used MSN before I created a Second Life account and I still use it now. Everything in Second Life is a mystery, you do not know who the people are that you communicate with, you do not know their name and you do not know where you are. Its all make believe and personally, even though I used it, I think it is pretty sad. For someone who has many friends on MSN, I believe that it is unnecessary to experince virtual worlds. It may be more qualitative to experience a virtual world if perhaps you didn't have a "first life". It may be an oppurtunity for one to do something time consuming or it may be their own way of socialising. MSN is much safer and is a better expereince. You able to decide who is and is not in your world of MSN, by blocking or deleting people. You are able to talk to your friends and overall it is a much better way of socialising.

There is a major difference with the socialising aspect of virtual worlds and IM. As mentioned above, when you are socialising with IM you are commonly socialising with people that you know and that you want to have talking to you. In a virtual world the socialising experience is completely different. You are meeting new people which may for some be exciting but often it is just stupid and pointless.

So are there things in one space that are not available in another? Yes. On MSN you cannot meet new people, unless you are really dumb and add people that you don't know or accpet adds that you do not know. In virtual worlds, you are able to do this and of course the 3D aspect is a different way of socialising.

So where is this application going to lead us? Who knows! Virtual Worlds will probably keep growing and become even more pointless and ridiculous.

Evaluating Wikipedia:

The two articles on Wikipedia which I am going to use for this task are about my favourite TV series "Gossip Girl" and my favourite Hollywood celebrity "Victoria Beckham".


The Gossip Girl article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossip_Girl_%28TV_series%29):
* Is this an accurate article?
Yes this article is accurate, it has the correct dates and names. Its references are from official sites such as the CW website which is the station for the show. The season synopsis is also valid along with character information.
* Does it cover all the basic facts that you'd need to understand this topic?
Yes. As mentioned above it has a season synopsis, information on the main characters and other information such as ratings.
* Does this article follow the wikipedia guidelines for useful articles?
Yes as the article is not subjective, the images are acceptable and the information is all regularly updated to the latest episode.
* Is this article fair and balanced, or is it biased towards a particular side or argument?
Yes this article is fair and balanced, its is not biased as it is objective.

Finally - What changes would you make to this article to improve it and make it useful for the wider wikipedia community?
I do not believe many changes need to be made, perhaps have information on the individual episodes and update the characters as new characters enter the show.

The Victoria Beckham article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_beckham):
* Is this an accurate article?
Yes this is a n accurate article, in provides correct dates such as the date of birth, the facts are correct such as the names of Victoria's parents and her song names.
* Does it cover all the basic facts that you'd need to understand this topic?
Yes. There is a wide range of information on all of her careers, including her career as a Spice Girl, her career as an actress, a designer and an author. Along with this there are some other facts about her personal life.
* Does this article follow the wikipedia guidelines for useful articles?
Yes for the same reason as the Gossip Girl article.
* Is this article fair and balanced, or is it biased towards a particular side or argument?
Yes this article is fair. It is not biased as it is completely full of facts.

Finally - What changes would you make to this article to improve it and make it useful for the wider wikipedia community?
I believe that no changes are necessary.

Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

How do the ideas from Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" apply to contemporary digital media?

When reading Walter Benjamin's, "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" the main idea which is portrayed to the reader is the idea of "aura" of art suggesting that when a piece of artwork is reproduced, the aura is lost. This relates highly to contemporary digital media as one is exposed to art which has lost its aura on a daily basis. Whether someone is reading a magazine, driving past billboards on the way to work or reading their daily newspaper, they are viewing art which has been reproduced with contemporary digital media technologies. It can almost be said that EVERY advert seen has in someone been constructed and the viewer is not seeing the original picture. With many programs such as photo shop, it is extremely easy to edit a picture and make it look however the artist wants. It is fair to say that Walter Benjamin's theories still apply today.

To the left is a picture of Victoria and David Beckham when they graced the cover of W magazine. This is a piece of art, a photographer took the picture, chose the way they were sitting and the themes, however this has lost its aura due to the airbrushing of the couples skin to make them look flawless.


There was a time when "Art" was made by artists who were skilled professionals. Now that anyone with a computer can create things digitally (music, images, videos, etc), what does that mean for "art"?

As mentioned above, these days computer programs such as photo shop are available to anyone. Anything can be created digitally in the modern day, so the main question is, what does this mean for art? Art will still be art. Photography still has artistic value (see the caption next to the picture of the Beckhams), paintings still have an original lying around somewhere and video still has some kind of artistic sense however one may suggest that no matter what these pieces of art can be reproduced and therefore what this means for art is that the original copy will probably be worth a hell of a lot of money.


Is a photoshopped image "authentic"?

There are different situations where one may say that a photoshopped image is and is not authentic. A photoshopped image could be considered authentic if the point of the art was to use photoshop, for example my friend did a year 12 assessment task where she took photographs then used photoshop to turn these photographs into comic strips. I believe photoshopped images are not authentic when they are used to alter an appearance and then present the appearance as a reality.




Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?

Yes digital things have an aura in Benjamins terms as no matter what it is all a type of "art" and that sense of losing an "aura" is still experienced viewing this type of art.

Search Engines

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
When one types in a particular word or sentence, this word or sentence is run through the search engine. Firstly the search engine will list the findings that best match the word or sentence. Next, the often search for this word or sentence on the website and search how close to the top of the page it is written as this is more likely to make it relevant. Also search engines look at how many times these words are repeated on a web page, this is known as their frequency.

Who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
As mentioned above, it is more useful if it is close matching to what is searched and this will then make it more relelvant. If one is very broad in their search, the chances of finding what they are looking for quickly, are limited. The more precise they are in their search allows the search engine to better find what they are looking for and then this is listed at the top of the page on the search engine.

What are some of your favourite search engines? Why do you like one more than others?
At my high school, the school website had a page full of links to different search engines. When you were in year 7, you were lucky enough to be given a nice lesson on how to use search engines and it was then that I was introduced to my favourite, Google. 6 years later, it is my homepage and it is so frequently used by me. If i need to look up a word, i know i can just type "define:____" into google and google can get me a list of definitions. Google is simple to use and it is popular. Who wouldn't want to use Google? Not to mention when they change the famous "Google" sign to be in theme with the latest holiday.

I also love to use Wikipedia. Even though university seems to be dead against it, I still love it. It is kept up to date and always has further links if you want to find more information. It also has information on pretty much ANYTHING whether it be a day of the week or the latest single.

10 Questions!

In class task:

This was a little tricky, trying to find these answers without Google or Wikipedia!

The answers to these questions were found through a variety of different websites. I believe them to be the most accurate out of what I was able to find. I also verified my answers with online encyclopedias.

Question One: Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?

The “Love bug” computer virus is a virus which steals passwords. It was created by a Filipino man named Onel de Guzman, aged 24. Guzman studied at a computer school and claimed it was an accident that the virus was sent out, however he was still charged for credit card fraud.

SOURCE: http://premium.asia.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/29/philippines.lovebug.02/index.html


Question Two: Who invented the paper clip?

There is more than one person who was believed to invent the paper clip. For example Norwegian Johan Vaaler who actually registered his creation. At the same time, a man from the U.S named Cornelius J. Brosnan was issued with a U.S patent for his version named the Konaclip.

SOURCE: http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20031120.html

Question Three: How did the Ebola virus get its name?

This was a tricky question to find the answer too. The virus is named after a virus which affects humans, The Ebola Virus. This is a sever virus which was named after an African river where the virus is commonly found.
SOURCE:
http://www.answers.com/topic/ebola?cat=health

Question Four: What country had the largest recorded earthquake?

In 1960, the largest ever recorded earthquake was in Chile. The earthquake created over half a billion dollars in damage. It also created a tsunami, adding to the death toll and the amount of damage.

SOURCE:
http://www.extremescience.com/GreatestEarthquake.htm

Question Five: In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?

A Terabyte is actually 1 024 gigabytes, making it approximately 1073741824 kilobytes.


SOURCE:
http://malektips.com/computer_memory_definitions_0003.html


Question Six: Who is the creator of email?

The creator of email is Ray Tomlinson. It was created in late 1971 when he was working as a computer engineer.

SOURCE:
http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/email.htm

Question Seven: What is a Storm Worm?

A storm worm is a computer virus which is made up of a family of trojans. It is a very bad virus which does things such as:

- Stealing e-mail addresses

- Turns computers into spam bots.



There are about 10 million computers infected by this virus, according to experts.

SOURCE: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/10/the_storm_worm_maelstrom_or_te.html?nav=rss_blog

Question Eight: If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly, what is the most efficient way?

The most efficient way would be to contact him at his official contancts, the address and phone numbers are found at this site:
http://www.alp.org.au/people/qld/rudd_kevin.php

Also, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has a My Space profile found here:
http://www.myspace.com/kevinrudd

Question Nine: Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?

Stephen Stockwell plays the Keyboard for the Black Assassins.

SOURCE:
http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm
http://live-wirez.gu.edu.au/staff/stephen/
http://blackassassins.net/

Question Ten: What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?

Web 2.0 is a term used to compare how the internet has evolved. How there have been new inventions and more advanced inventions such as Google and Limewire. It is the new form of the internet, the second stage of the web.

SOURCE:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/web20.html