NuRiN YaZaM

I’m a Piscean. People say that Pisceans are dreamy yet very obedient. When it comes to game, I’m confused. My dreamy character suppose to love emergence narrative where you can only know what happen to the game as you play it. Just like the SIM series where you can chose everything that is going to happen to your characters in the game. But I hate that. I love to play simple game (the one that nowadays can only be found in a game boy). I love the Mario Brothers series, Islander and all those embedded narrative game. So, does your horoscope determine your game choice?

Before I learn that there was two type of narrative in games, I have never actually thought of it. I just knew that I love some games and hate the others. No reasons why. Now I know that…

Embedded Narrative: pre-generated narrative content that exist prior to a player’s interaction with the game and

Emergent Narrative: arises from the set of rules governing interaction with the game system.

(Salen and Zimmerman, Rules of Play)

A combine of both should create a better game because users are able to make their own decision yet at the same time follows some guidelines that were made by the developer. For example in an adventure game, it does go from one level to another, from a city to a jungle to an ocean. Nevertheless, we are able to determine what type of weapons we would use to fight our enemies and what type of vehicles we would use in each scenes or levels. By using different weapons and vehicles a different narrative will be created.

In a way, our maturity and experience in playing games does make us evolve from playing games with embedded narrative (which is quite easy), to a game with an emergent narrative (a craze for 10 year olds) to something that combines both. The reason of playing those games also contributes to the type of games that we chose. We will chose an easy game to relax, a moderate one to impress our mates (difficult ones will sometimes make us look bad) and the hard cores to show who’s the boss. Thus, men are more engaged into games, simply because they love challenges and women have lots of other important things to do than just to play games.

A few weeks ago in Emerging Media class, a photoblog website Flickr was introduced to me. Eventhough I’ m very familliar with photoblogging through my own photoblog, Fotopages, Flickr is an interesting website since it enables users to post pictures directly from the handphone.

Digi LifeLogger

Digi is one of the telco providers in Malaysia. Their latest invention is the LifeLogger, a type of photoblog similar to Flickr but developed by a telco provider. Therefore, this type of product extension does uplift the ability of the network as well as increasing the brand equity. Owners of digital camera embedded cellular phones can now share their experience and information in a multimedia format when they subscribe to Digi. Digi enables them to directly upload pictures from the mobile phone.

They are actually creating a network community of a mobile phone users who could share their interest of taking photos with friends and family from all over the world. The company believes that more and more mobile phone users will opt for phones with mobile camera because of the modern lifestyle pressure from the environment. Users can uploads pictures to the web even when their on holidays and out of reach of the computers and internet. They don’t even need a separate digital camera.

The second version of the LifeLogger.com offers a unlimited data storage and more than 5,000 Digi customers have register to the service. LifeLogger is at the moment receiving approximately 30,000 photos in MMS format. Users could also join the forum in LifeBlogger to communicate and discuss among them.

My Thoughts
The convergence of the use of mobile phones with camera and photoblog website has in away assist us to be in touch with friends and love ones although we are half way around the globe from them. Apart from personal use, this type of technology can also be applied professionally where those for example in construction sites can take a picture of projects and send them straight to the company’s website to be viewed by others.

Nevertheless, this privilege should not be misuse for example in taking nude photos in beaches and also photos that may tarnish a person’s credibility or reputation and publish it in a public space such as the internet. All pictures taken should be with permission and not violate anyone’s privacy.

Some links to mobile phone privacy readings:

Going wireless: behavior and practice of new mobile phone users by L Palen, M Salzman, E Youngs

Privacy - Camera Phones - M/Cyclopedia of New Media

Sneaky Cameras by Chris Mc Leod

Privacy fears on phone cameras by Larissa Dubecki

I’ve read an article on the use of smart card in a high school in Malaysia to check students’ attendance a few days ago. It is an interesting to see that local high schools are embracing technology in day to day activities. It took teachers to go through a long list of students to check for those who cuts classes, but now students must ‘clock in’ and ‘ clock out’ their attendance when their in school. Although, smart card usage has been implemented by companies and government bodies to access buildings and other use, however implementation cost is very high. When even a high school has adopted this method, we can say that people now are willing to pay the cost to have technological advance as part of their lives collectively.

Smart Card was first patented in 1974 and issued a few years later. On the contrary, smart card has not been fully utilized. Some chose to use barcodes rather than chips. But this does depends on the longevity of the use because of its cost.

Malaysian government has also initiated a project where the traditional identity card will be replace by Smart Cards and the nation wide deployment has started since last year. The smart identity card is named MyKad.
MyKad enable users to use it as an identity card as well as a driver’s licence. It also functions as a reload able Touch ‘n Go card that can be used to pay for toll, parking, bus fare and theme park tickets. It behaves like a bank card that facilitates daily transactions and also contains basic medical information if users faced any emergency.

In a way, smart card has merged the usage of different media from an identification card to a bank card that can support banking transaction. A purse that was once full of cards now has only one that can play many roles. That is why it is called a Smart Card and not just a card.

Reading some articles on instant messaging reminds me of my first encounter with mIRC, the first programme that I used to communicate real-time, online. That was 10 years ago. Now, there are so many different instant messenger both commercial and corporate that they are competing to provide many more enhancement in their products.

In my Communication and New Media class, I’ll be doing a presentation on instant messenger. It will cover the history, the future, features of the MSN Messenger and the Yahoo! Messenger and also discussion of some issues regarding advertising used in instant messenger and also surveillance within the workplace.

The invention of instant messenger has assist human to narrow the geographical gap and enable us to communicate at real-time across boundries without having to travel. Projects can be done even if the members are in different continents.

The question now, has the invention of the instant messenger created a more efficient workplace community or has it created a community where work comes second to personal communication?. Before, the owners of businesses spend millions of dollars just to have security camera placed in the workplace. This is to see wether the workers are actually present, working, using the phone for personal use, etc.

Now they even need a software to check every single keystroke of the computer to make sure that the workers are doing their job, using the internet for work and not for leisure. The instant messenger provider on the other hand, is creating more and more software that enable the user of instant messaging to go online undetected. Therefore, every single surveillance step taken by the workplace owners, is sabotage back by software developers especially the instant messenger provider. This will never end, just like worms and virus in computer networks.

Although it was invented for a good reason but unethical users who could not differentiate the use wether for personal or for work has given this problem to the workplace. Who is to blame? Let us think about it.

It was funny for me before since I’m learning so many things about technology this semester yet did not even own a 3G phone. But last week, for the first time I won the bid in eBay. It was my third bidding experience although I never did win before. The thing that I’ve won was a used Nokia 7600. Owned by a lady, she made a decision to sell it after buying the latest Samsung D500. It was well kept. I received it in my mail yesterday as if it is new.

Although it is not the latest Nokia, I’m satisfied because of its looks and capability. It’s Bluetooth enable, with Mp3 player and able to capture pictures and short videos. I wanted to own this for quite sometime now. I couldn’t buy a new one because Nokia does not produce it anymore. As if it was that long since it was produce (maybe between 1 to 2 years - not that long eh…).

A girl in uni wanted to sell hers for $269. I saw a few at the Cash Converter in Prahran for $249. Since I won the bid in eBay, I paid only $195.50 including postage. What a bargain?! Although the gap is not that big in Aussie dollars, but if you convert it into my Malaysian currency the difference is quite huge, nearly RM 150.

I send my first MMS today. It was a video message to my fiancé back home. He’ll receive it on his new Nokia 6600. Never thought it was that easy before. Maybe I’m a little bit behind, But at least I’m adopting it. Although my phone came with a USB cable, but since my notebook has irDA port, I transferred some song to my new phone through infrared connection. It really fascinate me. I’m going to explore some more.

This article reminds me on something I watched on TV once before where a man is leading a double life somewhere else. A life full of happiness which is the extreme opposite of the other. It seems bizarre before but in the age of internet like now, nearly everyone leads not only one but multiple lives virtually.

Turkle highlighted that the computer offers us both new models of mind and a new medium on which to project our ideas and fantasy. We have a routine cyberspace life where we exchange idea and assume personae of our own creation. The virtual and the real life seem to be merging.

Hence, the creation of computer programmes like Multi-User Domains (MUDs) has made it more practical for us to live this multiple lives. It does not only create individual with their own life but also cyber communities. In MUDs, one’s body is represented by one’s own textual description. The description is often a fantasy of the author. A character which he/she presumes will be able to attract others to them by putting aside their real physical appearance or life background. There are also characters made just to tap into other peoples’ lives without them realizing it.

Identity is not just one block of attribute of a person but at present, there are a few more. Some may spend too much time in the virtual world where this can give a negative impact to their social life in the real world especially with a partner, family and friends.

In the use of MUDs, language or words in written can be very powerful. Text can be used to control others and to send our ideology through. We can also encounter others who can create their virtual identity similar to our own real identity. This characters can sometimes be bots and not real. Thus, it is very hard to differentiate between real identity and created identity because everything seems to be real.

The computer is no longer just a giant calculator but it is a link of peoples’ ideas and a generator of new ideas. It creates new cultures and new identity ideas to individual. A person’s intellect is not the only thing that a computer could project but it can also extend an individual’s physical presence. Group activities such as business conference as well as individual pleasure fulfilling activities such as netsex are now mediated by real-time audio video links. Programmes like MUDs generate experiences, relationships, identities and living spaces. Human are now intertwined with technology and each other through technology.

As a conclusion, we need to analyse whether it is ethical or acceptable in building different identities on-line? Although, once before it was just for entertainment but these activities today has been carried more seriously where if a person would try to merge the virtual and real life together, conflicts of identities and a feeling of being deceived will occur. On the other hand, computers have helped us to express ourselves better by putting aside our physical attributes and our life background.

Source: Sherry Turkle, 1999 [1996]. ‘Identity in the Age of the Internet’, in The Media Reader: Continuity and Transformation, Hugh Mackay and Tim O’Sullivan (eds), Sage: London, pp. 287-304